The Marauders Series: First Year
by Time-Space-And-Stories
Summary: Journey with Remus, Peter, Sirius and James as they spend their first year together at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, starting a friendship that's sure to last.
1. The beginning

**Hello! Long time no see; I haven't posted in a while due to holidays, exams and a bad case of writer's block. But I'm back!**

 **I know many have done this before, but I couldn't help but take my own stab at writing the Marauders series, from years 1 to 7. Here's hoping I actually complete it :D**

 **Now, I'm going to try to make this as canon as possible - obviously this is difficult, with the most of the Marauders' story being shrouded in mystery of which I can only make guesswork of... but I'll do my best. If I make any mistakes or miss out anything really important, then let me know and I'll do what I can to correct it. Although, I must point out, that I may not include particular scenes that we know of already (i.e. the ones in the books and the films) because that's kind of directly taking Rowling's work literally from the page - instead I'll work around them and mention that they happened.**

 **As it's canon, this will eventually be a Jily fanfiction, but because I simply must, I'm going to make it a Wolfstar fanfiction too, so if that's not your kind of thing, much as I'd love for you to read my story, I'm just making it clear that this pairing will come up as the story goes on.**

 **I'll put a disclaimer here, rather than every single chapter: I'm sorry that I'm not JK Rowling guys, and I sadly do not own these wonderful characters.**

 **Apologies for the long A/N; I'll let you get to the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

This was it. The beginning of a new era.

It had been a while ago when Remus Lupin had looked through the window of his compartment and waved at his parents until they and the station had become too small to see. It had also been a while ago when the nerves had begun to set in, but Remus was doing his best to ignore that. He was finally off, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even now, the thought brought a smile to his face. He had been so sure, so certain that he'd never deserve a place, never be considered as being worthy enough to be taught in the arts of magic; even when the letter had arrived confirming his place, he'd assumed it was a mistake. That was, until, when none other than Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, had knocked at their door. And now, here Remus sat, on the train to a school to learn and be educated, like a person – a human. The thought was so surreal in his mind. Remus peered over through the compartment window again, where rolling hills of green blurred by and the sun glowed through. Even the weather was impressed, Remus smiled.

His eyes trailed across the rest of the compartment, where there were empty chairs. Remus had never really spent that much time with other people his age, let alone had friends. He still wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to act, to communicate with other students. But he was certainly going to try. This was his first, proper chance; the first opportunity he had been given to be considered normal, to be deemed deserving… and he was hoping to do his best in making sure he belonged as much as possible, however difficult that may be. The only thing that worried him was being discovered – because he knew that the moment someone found out about him, he would be sent away in disgust.

Remus shook away the thoughts plaguing his mind, and glanced down to his hands. The jumper he was wearing was far too big for him (it had been second hand), and the sleeves bundled up right to his knuckles. He loved the jumper all the same – in fact, the size made it all the more better; he could curl up within the fathomless realms as though it were some large blanket, cocooning him from the rest of the world. He did so now, hiding a yawn under the great swathes of material. It was nearly lunchtime and already he needed a nap – which was excusable, giving the circumstances. His muscles were already aching for the coming full moon later that week. Remus snuggled up further in his jumper, hoping to perhaps get a little rest…

Remus awoke – had he fallen asleep? And for how long? – To the sound of knocking at the compartment door. He glanced up in surprise, to see the figure of a young girl that looked around his age, with long, dark red hair. She slid the door open and peered in.

"Is it alright if my friend and I come and sit in here? Our last compartment had a pair of idiots and everywhere else is full."

Remus blinked slowly. He can't have been asleep for that long, he decided, as the sun was still high in the sky. He gave the girl a shy nod, who in response beamed and walked in, followed by her friend – a young boy also around Remus' age, with a pale face and black greasy hair.

The girl took the seat opposite Remus and grinned. "Thanks very much; I thought we'd have to go back to those boys in our first compartment," she said with a roll of her eyes, before extending out a hand. "My name's Lily Evans." Remus stared at her hand curiously, before slowly untangling his own from within his jumper and stretching over to shake hers. "What's your name," she continued with a pleasant smile.

"…I'm Remus," he mumbled politely.

"Nice to meet you, Remus! Oh, and this is Severus."

He glanced to the other boy who had sat beside Lily; he was already wearing his dress robes, and wore a mildly annoyed expression. His lip curled up in distaste as he looked Remus over. "Nice jumper," he muttered by way of introduction – yet he sounded amused by his own comment; it was snide. Lily turned and glared at him.

"Thank you," Remus replied with a wide smile, ignoring the sarcasm; the boy, Severus, appeared stunned for a moment.

Lily gave Remus a sympathetic smile, before tactfully changing the topic. "Are you looking forward to going to Hogwarts, Remus?"

Remus nodded again. "I think it's going to be very interesting. I'm looking forward to learning all the different things about magic."

"Oh, are you a muggleborn too," she exclaimed. "I am. Severus here isn't though, so he's been explaining a lot about the magical world so that I understand it better."

"That's nice of you," Remus told Severus, who merely shrugged as he kept his eyes trained to anywhere other than Remus. "I'm a half-blood," Remus said to Lily, "but I don't know that much about this world either."

"That's alright," Lily nodded, "Severus says it doesn't matter as to how magical we are, really. But if you want to know anything, ask away; I might be able to explain some things."

Remus looked over at her with a smile. She was being very nice, he thought, considering who I am – not that she knows about _that_ , of course. He was more used to the reaction he was being thrown from Severus: the sneer and the suspicious glare. That was usually how he was treated by other magical folk. But Lily was being kind, and offering to help him out; though Remus was tired and sore, he decided to keep this conversation going as long as possible, simply because he was fascinated by the prospect.

-oooO0Oooo-

The train was slowing to a stop. It was now evening, and Remus had changed into his more appropriate dress robes. He'd walked out of the compartment with Lily and Severus, and exited the train to step out onto a platform lit by glowing orange lamps. Up ahead was a large, looming shadow, holding one such lantern aloft. "Firs' years, over 'ere," boomed the voice of the shadowy figure, to the barks of a big dog slobbering at the shadow's feet. As Remus walked over, the figure became clearer: he was a giant of a man, with a great tangle of dark hair and a beard obscuring the most of his face, save for two twinkling, beetle-black eyes. Remus lost Lily and Severus amongst the crowd of first years that were clumping around this giant – but no matter, Remus decided. He would probably see her later.

"This way," the giant man directed, swinging his lamp and leading the first years off along a narrow path. Remus was dragged along the herd of the others, getting elbowed and clipped in places by others as they walked. Gasps of delight could be heard from the front and rushed through the crowd as they turned a bend. Remus glanced up, as everyone else had done, to see a grand black lake, and beyond that the mountainous silhouette of Hogwarts in all its glory.

"No more'n four to a boat," the giant instructed, as first years began to dart about to get a space on the boats. It appeared that many students had already made friends and were trying to sit with them; just as Remus wondered whether he could find Lily again, her hand grabbed his arm and tugged him to a boat.

"Hello again," she said brightly, as she clambered in the boat in Severus' wake, dragging Remus in too. Another boy practically fell in after Remus, sending the boat wobbling precariously.

"Are you alright," Remus asked, offering a hand to help the boy up. He was small, a little rotund, with blonde hair and watery blue eyes that widened up at Remus. The boy nodded quickly and scrambled to his feet, with Remus' help, before taking his seat.

"FORWARD," came the mighty voice of the giant, the echoes rippling across the lake's surface, and all at once the boats started to move in unison towards the castle up ahead.

Remus looked around to the other boats: other potential classmates, roommates… friends, he thought longingly. He wondered quite what it would be like to have a true friend – or even a group of friends.

"Heads down," the giant warned; Remus whipped his head around quickly in surprise to see they had reached the cliff of which Hogwarts sat upon. Remus ducked his head down as the boats trailed through a curtain of ivy, and on still through a dark tunnel. Finally, the boats slowed at the point of what seemed to be an underground harbour, and everyone stepped out upon the rocks, looking around in awe. Once again, the crowd followed after the giant, to a staircase which led up to a grand set of double doors. Three knocks resounded loudly; they were about to head into the castle at any moment. Remus swallowed down his nerves, and his gaze caught sight of the small blonde boy, who was quivering with fear. "Don't worry," Remus assured quietly, "It'll be fine." The boy nodded and gave a weak smile of thanks – at which the doors swung open.

A tall, thin witch, bespectacled and with black hair in a tight bun, appeared at the doorway. Her lips were pursed as her eyes washed across the nervous group of first years; she thanked the giant, and directed them to follow her lead.

The walked into the entrance hall, which was ginormous; the ceiling was leagues away, and straight ahead of them an imposing grand staircase swept up to the upper floors. Torches held in brackets lit the hall, and to the right was another room, where a great deal of noise escaped through the ajar doors. The woman paused, and turned to face them all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, peering down at them over her glasses. "This, for the next seven years, is to be your school, which I hope all of you have high expectations to do proud. Before we begin the start-of-term feast, you will be placed into your houses, of which you will find you treat as your family through the years.

"There are four houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw – all of which have been known to produce a great many outstanding witches and wizards. You can gain house points as reward, but you can also lose points for rule breaking. At the end of the year, the house with the most points wins the annual House Cup, which is considered a great honour.

"The Sorting Ceremony in front of the rest of the school is about to proceed, so I suggest," her eyes narrowed slightly as she scrutinised them, "you try your best to smarten up."

At once there started up a rustling of movement as students attempted to straighten their ties, brush down their robes and tidy up their hair. Remus swallowed again, checking his tie multiple times out of paranoia that it had suddenly unravelled to an appalling state. The Sorting Ceremony? That didn't bode well. How do they sort people? How would they sort _him_?

"Form a line, now," the witch stated sharply, "and follow me."

Remus stepped behind the smaller boy, and together the first years were led into the Great Hall. Immediately Remus felt he had been blinded; everything was so bright. He blinked rapidly, to take in four long tables (already occupied with the rest of the students of the school) that ran along the hall. Remus doubted he'd ever seen a room so big. Looking up, he squinted at the thousands of brightly burning candles floating above their heads, and beyond that, the scope of an evening sky. Did the ceiling not exist? Remus looked to the walls, to note that they faded from stone to a navy blue the further up his eyes travelled; perhaps the ceiling was enchanted. At the opposite end of the hall, there was another table, which faced the rest of the hall, where the professors were sat – including the giant man who'd brought them to the castle. At the centre of this table there sat (Remus beamed) Albus Dumbledore himself. Remus relaxed somewhat at the sight of a familiar face, as they were led over to the front of the hall.

The strict looking witch that had brought them in now placed a stool in front of the first years, upon which sat an old hat. It was immensely frayed and patched up in multiple areas. Remus frowned slightly, as everyone else stared at the hat, as though waiting for something to happen.

After a couple of moments of silence, a rip near the brim of the ragged hat opened like a mouth – and all at once, the hat began to sing.

 _"_ _Welcome, young wee first years,_

 _I am the Sorting Hat._

 _I may be ragged and tatty,_

 _But I know where your mind is at._

 _With one look I can tell_

 _Exactly which house you do belong._

 _And be assured: in all of my sorting,_

 _I have never once gotten it wrong._

 _Four houses there are, and each unique,_

 _With attributes they consider the best._

 _And so you must decide out of these which is close to your heart,_

 _That you value more so than the rest._

 _Is it bravery and a chivalrous mind_

 _Of which you do adore?_

 _For those of such with great daring and nerve_

 _Belong in Gryffindor._

 _Or perhaps is it the kindness of friendship,_

 _And loyalty that you hold dear?_

 _Therefore you would do well in Hufflepuff,_

 _Among those true and patient here._

 _Or is it intellect that reigns strong,_

 _To help you surpass far more?_

 _Quick witted minds of ingenious creativity_

 _Suit well in Ravenclaw._

 _Or if not, do you admire achievement,_

 _And feel that is where to begin_

 _In order to attain true greatness?_

 _Then you'll do well in Slytherin._

 _So now is the time to discover,_

 _Where all of you do belong._

 _Thus without further ado, I thank you,_

 _For listening to my Sorting song!"_

Applause erupted throughout the hall; Remus clapped too, though slightly bewildered by the whole thing. The hat fell still, and beside it the tall witch rolled out a long piece of parchment. "When I call out your name, you will sit on the stool and put the hat on, to be sorted into your house." She began to declare each name from the list, and one by one, pupil after pupil walked up with expressions of excitement and fear over to the stool. Once the hat was put on each head, it came to life once more, and after a pause (or some consideration) it shouted out the student's house to the rest of the school. Nerves began to claw at Remus. The witch was steadily getting through names, for subsequent applause to ring in his ears as each pupil took their seat after being sorted. What if he didn't fit with any of the houses, because of his condition? Dumbledore might consider Remus worthy to be a student here, but what if the hat thought otherwise?

The small boy beside him gave a small gasp as the witch stated, "Black, Sirius!"

Remus peered curiously to the stool, where a gangly boy with black hair strode over, taking a seat and having the hat put on his head. After several moments' consideration, the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus winced expectantly for the cacophonous applause, to find that it didn't come. He frowned. The entire hall was silent. Remus looked back to the boy, so named Sirius Black, who appeared utterly shocked. His mouth opened and closed, and his eyes darted confusedly between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables.

The sound of clapping broke through the thick silence – and it was coming from amongst the crowd of first years. Hundreds of eyes swung around – including Remus' – to fall upon a boy with dark, messy hair and glasses, wearing a broad grin and clapping enthusiastically.

Slowly, the rest of the hall began to clap too; Sirius smiled gratefully to the spectacled, grinning first year as he hopped off from the stool and darted off to the Gryffindor table. The Slytherin table didn't clap at all, they just started whispering and shooting Sirius odd looks, which Remus found very odd. What was wrong with a first year being placed into Gryffindor house?

The list went on, and Remus' stomach plummeted further with nerves.

"Evans, Lily!"

Remus watched with a smile as Lily walked nervously over to the stool, her legs shaking. She sat down, and a second after the hat had been dropped onto her head, it cried, "GRYFFINDOR!" Applause resounded: Lily stood up and walked over to Gryffindor table, shooting her friend, Severus, a sad smile. No one reacted to her sorting as they had to Sirius… except for Lily's friend; Severus had practically crumpled in disappointment as the hat had spoken Lily's house.

Further on the list ploughed through – Remus had been quick to realise that it was ordered alphabetically, and knew he was getting closer and closer to hearing his name. His heart was hammering in his chest, his limbs feeling weighted and heavy, and the noise of the hall was making him giddy. Closer and closer until his name was to be called; Remus felt slightly lightheaded. All this tension was painful to endure so close to the full moon.

"Lupin, Remus!"

That was him. His name. Remus walked through the crowd and over to the tall witch, and he sat obediently upon the stool. For a moment, he sat with his gaze upon the entirety of the school – when the hat was dropped onto his head and the brim fell low over his eyes.

"Ah," came the hiss of a voice in his ear. "Interesting, very interesting… I've never had to sort a werewolf before…"

Remus froze. For a horrible moment he was certain that the whole school had heard those words too. But, then again, he hadn't heard the hat discussing with anyone else.

"Oh, there's a clever mind in here, that's for sure… incredibly quick… loyal, too… and a pure heart…"

"So you think I belong in a house, then, do you," Remus thought. "Because I know that I do. Dumbledore himself told me that I should come to this school."

"Really?" There was a pause. "You would do well in all of the houses, you know… so, the question is, where you think you belong..."

Remus faltered. "I'm not quite sure where I belong," he thought honestly.

"Because those with a knack for studious learning," the hat continued, "usually side with Ravenclaw."

Remus frowned. "I'm not just here to study," he thought indignantly. "This is my first chance to prove to everyone that I'm more than what everyone thinks I am."

The hat hesitated. "You're a defiant one, aren't you?" The hat paused again, before shouting – and Remus could hear this shout resound across the whole hall – "GRYFFINDOR!"  
The hat was retrieved from his head and Remus picked himself up from the stool. The whole table for his new house was applauding him as he walked over and took a seat: it happened to be beside Lily, who beamed at him.

Remus looked back up to where he'd just come from, and further on to the staff table behind, his head reeling with the overwhelming noise and relief that he'd been placed. His gaze ran along the staff table, when it snagged upon startling blue eyes; Remus backtracked, to see Dumbledore smiling over at him. Remus reciprocated the gesture weakly, his nerves calming once more.

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

The small, watery eyed boy that Remus had been stood with quaked as he walked to the stool. It took a while until the hat finally exclaimed, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus smiled over at the boy, Peter, as he took a seat beside him, looking pale and nervous in the aftermath amidst the applause.

"Potter, James!"

As the first year sauntered over to the stool, Remus recognised him as the boy from earlier, with the black, messy hair and glasses. The result was instantaneous; perched upon the stool, with the brim of the hat brushing the tips of several chaotic strands of hair atop his head, the boy grinned as the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" He jumped up immediately, his grin growing wider at the cheers, and rushed over to the table, where he took a space on the bench on the other side of the table from where Remus sat. The boy practically launched himself across the table to grin excitedly over at the other boy, Sirius. "I knew you'd get in! What did I tell you?"

The Sorting continued, the repetitive applause giving Remus a dull headache. Now that he was placed into his house, he wanted nothing more than to go and sleep. Lily was peering around Remus to get a better look towards the Sorting: Remus shuffled back and turned around curiously.

"Snape, Severus!"

Remus caught the sound of subsided giggling from along the table, but ignored it and watched with Lily as the boy made his way over to the stool. He heard Lily sigh as the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" Remus turned back to see Lily looking a little downcast. "I'm not surprised, really," she informed Remus, "he really wanted to be in that one. I just… I would've liked to have been in the same house as him."

"You'll still see him though," Remus pointed out. "In classes and free time, and on weekends and stuff."

"Very true, Remus," Lily nodded, brightening up. Remus was surprised she'd remembered his name. He wasn't exactly a memorable person, after all. The Magical Society preferred his kind to be forgotten.

The Sorting was coming to a close, and the lasts rounds of applause dimmed down. As the tall witch took the Sorting hat away, Dumbledore rose to his feet with a twinkle in his eyes. "Let the feast, commence!" He exclaimed loudly.

Remus suddenly caught the overpowering scent of all manner of foods; he looked to the table and to his surprise the table was cluttered with hundreds of dishes that had most certainly not been there before. There were sausages, bacon, eggs; roast pork, roast beef; roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, chips; carrots, peas, broccoli; gravy, ketchup; there were even a couple of bowls filled to the brim with sherbet lemons.

Remus had been ready to collapse onto a bed and sleep, but with all this food laid out before him, he couldn't help but take a few things here and there (particularly on the meat side; one of the side effects as he drew closer to the full moon). It was absolutely scrumptious.

Just as he reached out for the gravy, the flicker of a silvery figure swam through the table. Remus' jaw dropped in astonishment; it was a ghost. The small boy beside him, Peter, yelped. The ghost beamed across to them. "Hello, there! Pleasure to meet you all. Wondrous sorting this year."

"Who are you?" Lily asked him politely.

"I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington," the ghost introduced with a bow as he floated above the table. "Resident of the Gryffindor Tower."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Remus said quietly with a smile.

"Are there other ghosts as well," Lily said.

Sir Nicholas gestured to the rest of the hall. "Take a look for yourself," he beamed.

Remus gazed across the hall, and sure enough, other silvery figures were trailing around, greeting pupils and talking animatedly amongst one another. Sir Nicholas bowed once more, before gliding off, humming to himself.

The meal came to a close, to which all the food miraculously disappeared from the tables and in its place arose assortments of desserts. Remus immediately went for the plate of chocolate éclairs, taking one and quickly demolishing it, before his eye caught sight of the various ice cream flavours, and he simply had to have a spoonful of the chocolate one.

All too soon, the puddings disappeared. Remus was utterly stuffed, and definitely ready to sleep now. His muscles were begging for him to lie down.

Professor Dumbledore got to his feet once more, beaming towards the school. "I hope you've all enjoyed the feast," he said happily. "Now, before we all pop off to bed, I have a few announcements to make.

"First years should be aware that the forest at the edge of the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. Also, a reminder that magic should not be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term; please talk to Madam Hooch should you wish to play for your house team. Finally," he added, with a grave note in his voice, "a tree called the Whomping Willow has been placed in the grounds of Hogwarts, but that does not give one invitation to go investigating it. Anyone who chooses to go near the Willow do so at their own risk." Remus frowned. Why would they plant a tree, and then keep it upon realising that it was dangerous to go near? And what exactly made a tree so dangerous?

"But for now: to bed with us all!" He clapped his hands for order, and at once the hall came to life with movement. A pair of tall Gryffindor pupils appeared, one stating, "First years, follow us: we're Prefects, we'll take you to our house Tower."

Remus got to his feet alongside Lily and Peter, and the first years were once again herded along, through the doors of the Great Hall and up the grand staircase Remus had seen earlier. They trekked through corridors, up many staircases – which were _moving_ at random intervals – and down thin, spiralling passageways that Remus was certain he'd never be able to remember. Finally, they stopped outside a portrait of a large woman dressed in pink. She was moving within her portrait, smiling down at them all before asking, "Password?"

"Crataegus monogyna," one of the Prefects responded; the woman nodded and the portrait swung forward, revealing a large round hole in the wall. "Come along through, then," the Prefect instructed, climbing through. Remus followed on, clambering into a cosy, round room draped in red and gold at every nook and cranny. There were several squashy armchairs surrounding a glowing fireplace, and a golden chandelier hung in the centre of the room. The wooden floor was covered in carpets – which were, again, a deep red with gold lining.

The Prefects directed the girls through a door to their dormitory, and the boys to the other. Lily smiled at Remus before being dragged with the other girls to her new room. Remus followed after the other boys, where they walked up a spiral staircase. At the top was a door, which was opened to reveal a round dormitory, with four four-posters draped with red velvet curtains. With a sigh of relief, he found his trunk and brought it over to one of the beds, and collapsed down upon the red quilt cover. He closed his eyes and smiled, as he listened to the commotion of the other three boys.

"What's your name, then?" Remus looked up, to see the boy with the messy hair and glasses peering quizzically down at him.

"I'm Remus," he replied politely. He sat back up, to have his hand stolen and tugged into a vigorous shake.

"Brilliant," the boy grinned. "My name's James Potter."

Remus managed to extract his hand from the grinning boy, and he gave a small smile. James spun around and pointed over to the boy with the black hair, who was gazing around the room from where was sat cross-legged on his bed. "And that's Sirius," James continued. Sirius looked over upon hearing his name, and saw James and Remus looking over at him; he waved. James swivelled around to see Peter standing in the middle of the dormitory. "Oh, he exclaimed, "Who are you?"

"Peter."

"Welcome, Peter, to the Gryffindor first year dormitory," James announced with a grand wave of his arms, darting over to shake Peter's hand. He then proceeded to circle the room, running animatedly with a great energy that Remus could only admire.

Remus stifled another yawn just as he thought this. Now was not the time to be conversing – there was plenty of time for that to come. For now, what was in order was several hours of a decent sleep. At this Remus pushed himself off his bed and opened up his trunk. Quickly finding his pyjamas, he closed the trunk and pushed it under his bed, leaving it to organise another day. He made to get changed – to remind himself that there were three other boys currently in the same room. He couldn't risk the chance of them seeing his _scars_. After a moment's panic, Remus remembered the curtains around his bed. He scrambled over to the four-poster and drew the curtains, quickly getting changed. Remus folded up his robes, put them at the end of his bed, and slipped under the covers. He immediately fell asleep – despite the sound of James whooping from outside the curtains.


	2. Chapter 2

James was ecstatic the following morning. Adrenaline was pumping; he catapulted out of bed and made sure everyone woke up to hear his excitement. They were here – in Hogwarts! James couldn't wait to get started.

The others, however, were less enthusiastic. Sirius had found it amusing (although that hadn't stopped him from kicking James off his bed); Peter had initially taken refuge under the covers as James had bounded over; and Remus – well, Remus had miraculously managed to sleep through the most of it, though James hadn't relented. He'd eventually woken Remus up.

Remus peeled himself away from the tangle of covers and had gotten changed (again, behind closed curtains), before stepping out into the sunlit dormitory – at which point Remus immediately longed to crawl back into bed. Instead, he found his bag from within his trunk, already stuffed with all his books and the majority of his equipment, and headed off with the other three to the Great Hall.

Hundreds of pupils were already there eating breakfast, whilst others – like Remus and the other three – were filing on through the doors and taking their seats. Remus sat down and grabbed a slice of buttered toast from the rack, noting happily that the other three boys sat with him.

"Watch out for the owl post," James warned through a mouthful of cereal.

"Owl post," Remus repeated. He knew of owls delivering mail, of course; that was how he'd received his acceptance letter, and how his dad often got letters. But there was official 'owl post', here at Hogwarts? No sooner had he spoken in his surprise, when there came a screech from the end of the hall. Dozens upon dozens of owls, of various colours and sizes, came swooping down above the four tables, throwing down parcels and letters to their recipients and drowning the hall in feathers.

As they ate, the tall witch from yesterday evening strode down along the Gryffindor table, handing out parchment.

"Good morning," James greeted brightly as she made her way over. "How can we help you, madam?" Sirius snorted, but James was undeterred; Peter looked on in awe at James' bold manner.

The professor handed out the pieces of parchment to them. "Your timetables," she informed, after having given James no more than a raised brow in response. "Make sure to arrive to your classes on time, and keep your uniform in check." She gave a sharp nod, before striding off to the other students along Gryffindor table.

Remus looked down at the parchment in his hand, to find there were in fact _two_ sheets of parchment. Remus looked back up – but the professor had already disappeared. Remus glanced back down, considering heading off and looking for her, when he read the second, 'accidental' piece, to see that it bore his name.

 _'_ _Remus Lupin,_

 _Please visit the hospital wing at 7:30pm this evening._

 _Professor Dumbledore.'_

The Headmaster wanted to see him? Remus pondered for a moment. Perhaps this was about what was to happen during the days of the full moon. The question was… where was the hospital wing?

"Let's have a look," James brought Remus out of his reverie, by peering across the table to investigate.

"What?"

"Your timetable," he said. "What do you have first?"

Remus glanced at the larger piece of parchment in his hands. "Erm… Charms."

"Fantastic! So do we," James declared.

Remus folded up the note from Dumbledore and pocketed it discreetly, before taking a proper look at his timetable. He cheered up at the sight of the various subjects he was to be taking – he could understand James' excitement a little better.

"How do we get there," Peter questioned.

"Well," Sirius said, "Hogwarts is a big place: there's one hundred and forty two staircases, seven floors, dozens of towers – and that's only the basic outline of the castle." He turned to James. "We should probably start searching for the class now."

"Good idea," James agreed: the pair got to their feet. James paused, and looked across to Remus. "You coming?"

"Okay," Remus obliged, hauling his bag strap across his shoulder and, keeping his timetable in hand, he got up from the bench. Peter watched after them almost longingly, so Remus gestured for him to come along too.

The castle certainly was as big as Sirius had described. There were large staircases, winding staircases, ones with steps that disappeared, ones that were indecisive as to where they should lead to – but the stairs weren't the only problem. Corridors twisted to dead ends, led to dark passageways, offered doors that were not doors at all, but in fact walls in disguise. The portraits were no help either: they made comments to one another about passing students, but if anyone tried to ask for directions, suddenly their frame became a whole lot more interesting, or the topic of conversation would swiftly change (none too subtle-like) to the most current despairing antics of Sir Cadogan, or how "I'd much prefer to have my portrait on the fifth floor: it's much quieter up there, you know."  
They finally found their Charms class, and Remus was pleased to find that he was not disappointed. The subject sounded fascinating, and the professor was a tiny man by the name of Flitwick, who had a very squeaky voice and taught from the top of a very precarious pile of books in order to see the class. Peter had been worried about the potential difficulty of the class, whereas James and Sirius were instantly hooked, intrigued for the lessons to come – which was more than the pair could say for History of Magic, to which they'd proclaimed had been "incredibly dull." Remus had found it interesting, although had to admit that the professor (Binns) – who was a _ghost_ – had a rather irritable drone of a voice, which Remus could foresee would become particularly loathsome around the full moon, at which his senses would heighten even more so than usual in strength (to accustom for the transformation).

Their Transfiguration class was taught by the tall witch, who Remus discovered was called Professor McGonagall, a name he recognised from having read on his acceptance letter to Hogwarts, back in the holidays. Her subject was brilliant, though they soon discovered that they would be starting out small on the transfiguration of objects, much to James' dismay, who appeared to have quite the talent for the subject.

The day went impossibly fast, as though someone had charmed for it to speed up – Remus reckoned this was due to the fact he was having so much fun. He couldn't think of a time where he'd enjoyed himself more – although, it would have been improved had he been able to get rid of his headache, which reminded him of the full moon being only a couple of days away.

It appeared that he shared all of his classes with the other three boys of Gryffindor, so had familiarised himself with them considerably since having met them. James was certainly the loudest and most excitable, and had the habit of running his hands through his hair (which made it all the more untidy). Sirius and James seemed to get on like a house on fire, which Remus found fascinating, especially upon finding out that they'd only met the day before on the train. Peter was incredibly meek, but felt inclined to follow around after the other two, seeing it to be far preferable than to being alone. Remus himself didn't mind either way, personally (it would, however, be nice if James wasn't quite so noisy at this time of month), but found it comforting whenever James or Sirius gave him a smile or opted to converse with him.

The evening soon came around, and after dinner in the Great Hall, Remus slipped away to "go for a walk". Once out of the hall, he pulled out the note from earlier that morning, reading it through again.

So where _was_ the hospital wing?

Remus had considered asking a prefect, but didn't wish to rouse any difficult questions or raise a fuss. It would be nice to have a map of the castle, though such an item would be impractical, if it could not attain to how the castle seemed to move and change of its own accord as though alive.

Remus started wandering, taking the systematic route of searching each floor one at a time. However, as he'd pointed out, the castle was forever switching things around – only when he found himself somewhere on what he believed to be the third floor (or was it the fourth?) did he resign to the fact that he was, indeed, lost. Remus read through the note again, hoping for some clue to appear as to the whereabouts of the hospital wing… when no such thing came to reveal itself, Remus tucked the note back into a pocket of his robes.

At the end of the corridor, there came a trickle of silver – the Gryffindor ghost. Remus decided it was probably best to ask for help.

"Excuse me," he called, "Sir Nicholas… erm… de Mimsy-Porpington?"

The ghost turned around in surprise, his silver head wobbling oddly precariously upon the neck ruffle he wore. "Hello, dear boy," he exclaimed brightly.

"I'm lost," Remus explained. "Could you help me find the way to the hospital wing, please, sir?"

Sir Nicholas beamed. "But of course; happy to help a young Gryffindor." Remus followed after the ghost in relief, hoping to still make the hospital wing in time. "So, how has your first day at Hogwarts gone, then?"

"Brilliant," Remus replied truthfully.

"I see you haven't been misfortunate enough to have met Peeves, then."

"Peeves?"

"The poltergeist," Sir Nicholas huffed irritably. "An utter nuisance if you ask me – or anyone, in fact. Causing havoc is second nature to him. Only the Bloody Baron can keep him relatively under control. He's the Slytherin ghost."

"Is there a ghost for each house then?"

Sir Nicholas nodded. "Myself; the Bloody Baron; the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw ghost; and the Fat Friar, ghost of Hufflepuff."

Remus thought it through. "Why is there a ghost for each house?"

"I don't know," Sir Nicholas shrugged. "Tradition, I suppose – the same could be said for most things that happen within this castle."

Remus nodded politely. He wondered what the other ghosts were like, whether they were as nice as Sir Nicholas. He'd seen plenty of other ghosts wandering around, too. Did magical folk have to come back as ghosts after they died? Or was it a choice? Remus thought this might be a little intrusive to ask of a ghost, so kept it to himself as the two wandered down back to the first floor.

"The hospital wing is the Hospital Tower," Sir Nicholas informed, "which is at the first floor – luckily, it doesn't move around, unlike the majority of the school. There are certain locations which are kept in place for simplicity; the house towers, and the Great Hall, namely." He peered down at Remus. "May I ask as to why you're wanting to go to the hospital wing?"

"Um…" Remus couldn't see much harm in explaining it – briefly, mind. "I got a note to go there."

"Interesting," Sir Nicholas said. "Whatever for, so you think?"

Remus shrugged. He had an idea, of course, but that was bordering on the line of 'too much information'. If he was going to keep his condition a secret, he was going to do it properly.

They reached the entrance doors to the hospital wing, and Remus spun around to face Sir Nicholas, nearly falling through him. "Thanks for bringing me here," he smiled.

"Not at all," Sir Nicholas bowed, and with a nod turned around and floated off back down the corridor. "I hope everything goes well."

Remus circled back to the hospital wing doors. _Me too_ , he thought.

He stepped inside, to see a long room with a tall ceiling (these seemed to be common within the school), with rows of white beds. As he strode nervously through the entrance, to the right was another smaller door. He walked over and knocked hesitantly.

It swung open to reveal a young woman, who smiled down at him. "You must be Remus," she said, continuing, "I'm Madam Pomfrey, the Matron at Hogwarts."

"Madam Pomfrey has most wondrously obliged to take you under her wing," came a voice behind Remus. He craned his neck, to see none other than the Headmaster peering down at him over those half-moon spectacles. "Come along, Remus, take a seat." He gestured towards one of the beds in the hospital wing itself; Remus walked over and sat at the edge of the bed, looking up at the pair. "How has your first day gone," Dumbledore asked.

"Really well," Remus replied. "The lessons are better than I hoped for them to be. I think I'm settling in, but I'm not quite sure. The other pupils are really nice, too," he said, hearing the surprise in his voice as he said it.

"I'm glad to hear it," Dumbledore beamed. "You'll soon start making friendships before long."

"Really? You think the other students will want to be friends with me?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I doubt you'd find anyone who wouldn't."

Remus' shoulders sank. "But my condition-"

"Does not determine who you truly are," Dumbledore interrupted kindly. "It is unfortunate, yes, that it should be a part of your life, especially for one so young, but that doesn't mean to say that you and the wolf are one and the same." He patted Remus on the shoulder, who swallowed the words with a great amount of hope that they rang true. "Now, about the full moon.

"When the transformation is to happen, Madam Pomfrey will take you to the grounds, where the Whomping Willow has been planted. This is the entrance to a building we've built to satisfy your hours as the wolf. It had been securely bound to keep you safely in there," he assured, sensing Remus' worry correctly. "Madam Pomfrey will then collect you once the transformation is over, and bring you back to the hospital wing, where she will do her best to patch you up where she can."

"You don't need to worry about that," Remus said quickly, not wanting to cause too much trouble for the matron. "I've gotten used to the after effects of the transformation, really…"

"Don't be silly," she smiled, shaking her head. "I've plenty of dittany and various other potions and draughts that should be able to heal you up well enough. It takes time, but we need you in one piece for when you return to your classes."

"What about the lessons I miss-"

"I admire your eagerness to learn, Remus," Dumbledore said, "but there is no need to worry about that. All the professors have been informed of your condition, so they'll know where you'll have been. I'm sure they'll be lenient if you miss a lesson or two. And if you really must," he added, noting Remus beginning to panic at the thought of taking so much time out of class, "you can always talk to your professors about anything you've missed. They'll be more than happy to help you."

"I have some potions that you can take close to the full moon," Madam Pomfrey assured, "for when you're feeling groggy. They should be able to calm severe headaches for if you really need it. There'll always be more here if you need any."

Remus nodded, dazed at the effort they were putting into his wellbeing.

"The full moon is, this coming early Sunday morning, if I'm correct," Dumbledore asked. Remus nodded again. "So I suggest that you make your way here Saturday evening, and spend the night here. Madam Pomfrey will wake you at the appropriate time for you to get to where you need to be."

Remus left the hospital wing with a couple of bottles of calming droughts, a handful of liquorice wands (courtesy of Dumbledore) and a trail of kind words in his wake.

 _Now, how to get back to Gryffindor Tower?_

-oooO0Oooo-

Sometime after Remus had disappeared from Gryffindor table, Sirius and James decided to head back to the dormitory. This was not as simple as they'd thought; James had been sure that they had gone through three hidden passageways to get there from the Great Hall, but Sirius had thought it to be four. Somehow, they'd managed to get through seven, without really understanding how.

"Should we backtrack and start again," Sirius decided, at the top of a staircase.

"Yeah," James agreed; they dashed back down the staircase, but as they'd reached the middle of it, there was a grinding of stone and the staircase began to move. James and Sirius toppled over, and scrambled to grab hold of the bannister.

"So much for that idea," Sirius breathed, as the staircase ground to a halt, leading down to a completely different area than they'd just been racing towards. James picked himself and offered Sirius a hand in getting up. "Where to now?"

"Erm… this way, I suppose," James said, and together they went down the rest of the staircase. They strolled through the corridors, thankful for the torches held in brackets that lit the corridors up. "We should definitely spend some time exploring this castle," he said, as they found a passageway behind a tapestry and walked through, to find themselves in a wide corridor covered in portraits on both sides. At the end of the corridor was the silhouette of a pupil, who was steadily coming closer.

"You don't think that could be Remus, do you," Sirius said. "He mentioned about going for a walk."

They neared towards the first year – to find that it was not Remus, but in fact a sallow faced, greasy haired Slytherin.

"Hello," James smirked, "Snivellus, isn't it?"

"Severus," the other boy replied through gritted teeth.

"So, Snivellus, what are you up to on this fine evening," Sirius continued.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Well, we're just simply fascinated by your mere presence," James shrugged. "Tell us: what is it like being a fully-fledged member of the snakes?"

Severus glared at them. "What are you doing around here, anyway?"

"We're students at this school," Sirius laughed.

Severus sneered. "You're lost, aren't you?"

"And you're not?" James countered.

"No," Severus snapped. "I'm going to the Slytherin common room."

"Would you like some help in getting there," Sirius offered, giving James a wry grin.

"I want you to leave me alone," Severus snarled, and stormed off in the other direction.

Sirius and James watched after him, and the moment he disappeared, the pair burst into laughter.

"He gets so easily wound up, it's hilarious," James giggled.

"He's been in a few of our classes, when we've shared with Slytherin," Sirius noted with a grin. "I reckon we can have some fun in class too, when he's around. Snivellus Snape, I believe his name was."

"I think Snivellus is truly going to enjoy his next seven years at Hogwarts," James laughed.

"If he lasts that long."

They both sniggered, and decided to take the route Snape had just appeared from. As they went around the corner, they saw down the end of the hallway a familiar sight.

"The fat lady," James exclaimed. They ran towards the portrait, having to take a breather once they reached it.

"Password?"

"It's… erm… the password…" James looked to Sirius, who shrugged. "Well, the password… is something that we, do _know_ … erm… but…" He sent the fat lady a hopeful grin. "You don't think you could just, let us in this once, could you?"

"Of course not," came the shrill response.

James frowned exasperatedly to Sirius. "What was it?"

"Something Latin," Sirius pondered. "I wasn't really paying attention when they said it yesterday."

"Crataegus monogyna," came a tired voice behind them; the portrait of the fat lady swung open. Sirius and James spun around in surprise, to see Remus stood behind them.

"Thanks, Remus," James grinned, and the three of them scrambled through the hole behind the portrait. "Have a good walk?"

Remus nodded, before throwing his bag across his torso to search through it. Sirius and James glanced to each other, intrigued. Remus finally emerged from his bag, and with him came a handful of liquorice wands. "Do you want one?"

James beamed. "Sure!"

Remus handed them out to the pair, and then after giving them a smile, he squeezed past them and continued on up to the dormitory.

"Strange kid," James said through a mouthful of liquorice wand.

"Nice, though," Sirius added, waving his own liquorice wand as proof.

James wandered across to the fireplace, where someone had left a chess set on the carpet. He grinned over to Sirius. "Any good at Wizard Chess?"

"Is that a challenge," Sirius retorted with a broad smirk, and made his way over.


	3. Chapter 3

Remus had never been more relieved to see a free period on his timetable that Friday. He'd only just managed to endure the Defence Against the Dark Arts class that morning; he wasn't sure if he would've been able to handle any other lessons that afternoon. So, with his energy waning, he'd gone outside to venture across the grounds. The weather was moody and grey, but at least it was quieter out here than it was back in the castle. Remus retrieved one of the calming droughts from Madam Pomfrey that he'd put safely in his bag, and took a swift mouthful. Instantly there was a soothing chill to his mind, as though an invisible balm had been applied across his forehead. Remus put the drought away, and plucked out a book. He walked slowly across the grass, looking out across a large, clear lake that captured the reflection of the castle as though it were a mirror. It was certainly still enough to be one. Taking a seat on the ground, he opened up his book (Sherlock Holmes) and began to read. The concept of time dissolved as fantasy came to life across the pages: Remus was lost in his own world, barely even noticing the wind ruffling through his hair.

"Remus! Is that you?"

Remus jumped at the voice that called him back to reality sometime later. He looked around, to see a sheet of long, dark hair.

"Hello Lily."

"What are you up to," she asked. Remus bookmarked his page with a spare bit of parchment and held the book up, waving it at her. "Oh. Nice choice."

"Thank you." He tilted his head curiously. "What are _you_ up to?"

Lily grinned. "Waiting for Severus, actually. He said he'd come down later, so I thought I'd have a look around whilst I waited for him."

"That's nice."

"So, what do you think?" Lily flounced down, taking a seat beside Remus.

"Of what?"

"Hogwarts," she laughed.

Remus considered the question a moment. "Very big," he decided. "And loud. But incredible."

"Isn't it just," Lily agreed enthusiastically. She drew in a deep breath. "My sister wanted to come here; she even wrote a letter to Professor Dumbledore… but she isn't magical." Lily drew quiet. "She said I was a freak."

"You're not a freak," Remus retorted matter-of-factly. "You're a very nice person."

Lily beamed. "Thanks Remus." She watched curiously as Remus dragged his bag into his lap and started rummaging through it.

Remus found the bag Dumbledore had given him the day before: there were only two liquorice wands left. Aside from the ones he'd handed out to Sirius and James yesterday evening, he'd also shared them with Peter when he'd gone up to the dormitory. He pulled the last two liquorice wands out, and gave one to Lily, who stared between him and the wand in surprise. She took it and thanked him again: Remus finished off the last one as she ate hers.

"These are good," Lily commented appreciatively. "Where did you get them?"

Remus hesitated. "A family friend," he invented quickly – which wasn't exactly a lie.

"Lucky."

Remus considered returning back to his book, but thought that it might be a little rude to do so mid-conversation. "I like your name," he said with a smile. "It's very pretty."

Lily laughed, to Remus' astonishment. "You're so sweet," she giggled. "I quite like my name too; and the flower, as well. It's beautiful to look at, and they smell wonderful." She glanced over at Remus, who'd glimpsed back at his book. "Oh, I'm sorry: you were reading, weren't you?"

Remus suddenly looked horrified, guilty at having regarded his volume without quite realising, and worried that he'd made it appear that he didn't enjoy her company. "No – it's alright – I like talking with you, honest."

Lily seemed to find this panicked response amusing. Was he really that funny? Remus couldn't quite understand it, but decided he can't have gone too far wrong if she was only chuckling at him. "Do you like reading," she asked.

"Yes, I love it!"

"There's a library here, you know," Lily said. Remus' eyes widened. "I stumbled across it yesterday with Severus."

There was a library? Here? Not only was this an exciting discovery in terms of the great amount of books that must surely be there, but also at the fact that a lot of those books belonged to the magical world.

"I'll take you to it, if you like." Remus gawked over at Lily, who'd gotten to her feet and brushed herself down. "Come on, so then I can get back in time for when Severus gets here."

He stood up (nearly falling over himself) and grabbed his bag and book, before following after Lily.

-oooO0Oooo-

Remus had been right to avoid the castle earlier in search for quiet, for havoc was reigning through the corridors in the form of two first years.

"I had you in check mate!"

"No you didn't!"

"Your queen had nowhere to go," Sirius yelled, chasing after his opponent.

"Yes she did; she could move to C5," James hollered back, grinning as he ran.

"And then my knight could've taken her!"

"Your knight was three squares out of range!"

"Of course it wasn't! I was winning!"

"No you weren't," James snorted.

"Look, you won yesterday evening: it's only fair that I should – hey, is that who I think it is?"

James tumbled to a stop, spinning around to search for whoever it was Sirius had seen. Just as he'd caught sight of the pupil, however, Sirius crashed into him. The pair went flying to the ground. James scrambled to his feet, and yelled over to the first year down the corridor. "Lost again, are you, Snivellus?"

The Slytherin flinched upon hearing what was becoming to be a permanent nickname. "Oh, it's you two," he groaned.

"Long time since we've seen you, our snakey friend," Sirius smirked as he too jumped up to his feet. "What was it… only hours ago?"

Upon seeing Sirius, something registered in Snape's mind. His frown twisted to a snide smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I wouldn't be so happy if I were you, Black. You've got a cousin in Slytherin, haven't you?"

"Three, actually," Sirius corrected, his amusement draining somewhat. "Not that it's any of your business. Why do you care?"

"Your parents must be dying to know about what happened during the sorting," Snape continued. "They presumed you'd be a Slytherin, I heard, like the rest of your family. One of your cousins in fifth year is taking the liberty of informing them: she doesn't seem to think you'll risk it. Ironic that you were put in a house that's known for its bravery, considering you're a coward."

James glanced to Sirius. He had gone white, his mouth hung ajar and lips dry, lost for words. James glared at Snape, and in Sirius' defence snapped, "Shove off, Snivellus. Go on, take a bath."

That wiped the smirk off Snape's face: he scowled at James and subsequently stormed off. James grabbed Sirius' arm and dragged him along, deciding to return back to the common room. "He was just trying to provoke you," James assured.

"It must be Bellatrix," Sirius whispered. He cleared his throat and clarified, "one of my cousins. It was probably her that Snape was talking about."

"He said that she was in fifth year, right?" Sirius nodded; James continued, "So why would she want to explain all that to an idiot like him?"

"He might have overheard… in their common room…"

James had to admit, Snape did come across as they type who would snoop. But he shook the thought away, concentrating on getting Sirius back to Gryffindor Tower to take his mind off what had just happened.

-oooO0Oooo-

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," Remus panted, getting his bearings. His muscles were groaning in disagreement, but he pressed on, reaching the top of the stairs.

"The library is just around the corner," Lily encouraged as they walked.

"Will it be quiet in there," Remus asked.

"I should think so: the librarian seemed rather strict…"

"Good," he nodded with relief. A quiet room filled with books sounded glorious right now.

"Right, well – I'd better be on my way back now," Lily said with a grin, "so have fun, Remus!"

Remus nodded, watching her go, before walking on through to the library entrance.

The room was extensive, rows upon rows of shelves from floor to ceiling (which was, again, impossibly high) utterly to the brim with books. The overpowering smell of musty volumes stormed through Remus' nose, and Remus felt a lull of calm sweep over him. Before he sneezed.

Remus shuffled through the maze of books, perusing the various genres which were held within the library. There were tables dotted around the library, where a good deal of older years were (already?) studying hard; their faces were inches away from streams of opened books as they scribbled incessantly upon parchment. There were also many armchairs, placed near the grand mullioned windows – probably a far more popular place to sit when the sun was out. The bland grey skies barely managed to brighten up the room; there were chandeliers that Remus presumed were lit when it got darker. There was even a whole row of shelves dedicated to muggle books here. Remus found a particularly comfy looking armchair, settled down and brought his book back out. It was – as he'd hoped – incredibly quiet, save for the scratching of quills and turning of pages.

He was going to be here for a while, that was for certain.

-oooO0Oooo-

"Sirius? Sirius. _Sirius_. Siriusssss."

He was staring into the fireplace, watching the flames dance and crackle upon the firewood, cross-legged and his hands drawn together to rest under his chin, his elbows pressing down against his knees. He thought of his home, where his parents might be finding out about his place in Gryffindor at this very moment… he thought of his father's disappointment, his mother's anger… he wasn't even sure what _Regulus_ would think. Would he be impressed? Shocked? Glad that he would now have every chance to outshine his older brother (although his parents had always favoured Regulus over the years anyway). What would his parents do to Sirius? He could certainly imagine multiple theories, which he mulled over darkly before the fire. He'd been so engrossed by his worries that he hadn't even heard James. It wasn't until a chess piece had been thrown at his head when he tumbled out of his reverie, to glare at the intruder. James sighed in relief. "You've been sat there for ages. How about another match?"

Sirius glanced to the chessboard. It didn't seem so exciting now. "Not feeling up to it, thanks," he muttered.

"Huh." James looked around the common room, hoping to find another willing opponent. He caught sight of the small boy that shared their dormitory… Peter, wasn't it? "Hey, Peter?"

The boy turned in utter surprise. "Yes?" he practically squeaked.

"D'you want to come and play a game of Wizard Chess with me?"

"I'm… I'm writing a letter now, actually," Peter mumbled, looking as though he regretted having chosen this moment of all moments to be already occupied. "To my mum. Maybe later?"

James hadn't caught the last part; Sirius had groaned and put his head in his hands. "Mate, you need to explain to me here: what's wrong with your parents finding out?"

Sirius swivelled around to him, gesturing James closer so that he could lower his voice. "My whole family have been in Slytherin."

"Yeah, you said on the train," James nodded. "But you're in Gryffindor! You said yourself, about wanting to break tradition."

"I _know_ , but…" Sirius exhaled deeply. "I guess I didn't really think that my family would have to find out. I didn't really think about how they'd react… and I know, once my mother finds out, it'll be a miracle if she doesn't pull me out of the school."

"You can't be serious," James said with a nervous laugh.

Sirius gave a wry smile. "But I am Sirius."

James faltered. It clicked; he burst into laughter, collapsing to the floor. Sirius rose his eyebrows at him, but James' amusement was contagious. Despite his worries and fears, Sirius couldn't help but giggle alongside James, who was now just a heap on the carpet.

Peter heard a shout of laughter from where James and Sirius sat. He could've been sat there too – but he'd promised he'd write to his mother… and he wasn't really any good at Wizard Chess. He looked back down at his parchment, to see he'd left his quill lying on it: a pool of navy ink was leaking across the page. Peter hurriedly picked up the quill, and attempted to mop the letter up with his sleeve. It smudged the parchment, but didn't do any harm to his writing, luckily. This was his third attempt at this letter. The first one he'd ruined with sticky fingers, from having eaten a liquorice wand at the time, and the second he'd misguided his quill and managed to rip a hole straight through the parchment. But he wasn't going to rewrite it out again for a smudge of ink. This would have to do.

He read it through once more:

 _'_ _Hi mum,_

 _I hope you're well. Hogwarts is amazing: I even got sorted into Gryffindor! (The Hat did consider Hufflepuff, as we'd thought, but he changed his mind). I'm ever so glad I did – I'm sharing a dormitory with three other boys, and I'm hoping to become their friends. James is really clever, from what I've seen in class, and Sirius – he's from the Black family, but he got put in_ **Gryffindor** _– is too. There's also another boy called Remus, who's really nice: he gave me a liquorice wand the other day. Would you be able to send over some sweets, so that I can return the favour? He's very quiet too… I think he's got a scar or two on his face; no one else has brought it up, so I don't think I should._

 _Classes are difficult already, and it's only been a day or so. Hopefully the others will be able to help me out. Overall, I'm really enjoying Hogwarts, even if it is nerve wracking!_

 _Lots of love,_

 _Peter.'_

That was enough for now, Peter nodded, glad to have finally finished it. He waved the parchment, so as to dry the ink, and folded it in half, before sliding it into an envelope. He scribbled the address across the front, and packed up his quill and ink, to subsequently head up to the dormitory. He'll search for the Owlry (he'd overheard the term from an older pupil) tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, are you okay?"

Remus grimaced down at the table. His head was pounding, the stench of breakfasts making him feel queasy. He'd barely managed to drag himself out of bed that morning, and when he had it had taken the most of his energy to make it appear that nothing was wrong. That he didn't want to just curl up into a ball and fall back to sleep. That he desperately wanted to turn back time, even if it were only a couple of days, to when he'd been laughing and grinning and been too overwhelmed by the beauty of his new home to worry about the coming full moon. He'd been shocked back into reality this morning. During the past couple of days he'd pushed the discomforts and aches and pains aside, because he wanted to enjoy his time here, he really did, and he'd never been somewhere so immediately homely and wondrous and comforting. Perhaps that's why the reality had been so easy to ignore. Because he had been surprised, and that distracted him from his worries, his fears.

"Remus?"

His mind swam at the noise of the other students. The hundreds of innocent kids who didn't know there was a monster lurking amidst them. The countless children who weren't going to spend the following morning ripping things to shreds. The teens that were laughing along with friends that Remus realised he would never truly be able to have because he was different. He was so different, so isolated even in such a place as this, and he had no choice but to keep it hidden. He had to lie, he had to cover up the bloodstained tracks he would make along the way because if they knew, if they _knew_ …

"Remus, are you feeling alright?"

Remus glanced up. James was looking expectantly across to him, with slight concern marring his expression. The boy had been grinning this morning, when he'd tugged at the curtains around Remus' bed to wake him up. He wasn't grinning now, though. That was Remus' fault, of course. Remus licked his lips nervously, and nodded.

"You look a bit peaky. Are you sure everything's alright? You're not feeling ill, are you?"

Remus shook his head, feeling like the whole world was going to start spinning.

"Perhaps you're feeling homesick." The second voice was much smaller: Peter gave a sympathetic smile to Remus – who thoroughly didn't deserve sympathy. He was a monster. A disgrace.

"Yeah," James nodded. "Don't worry, you'll soon get used to being away from home."

Home. Home, where his parents were, probably worrying about tomorrow morning for Remus. Home, where, behind a severely shackled and bolted door, there led deep down to a basement with bare walls and bare floors, no light and no warmth. Home, where he tore that cell of a room to pieces every month, spattered blood in the form of his true nature. Home, where he would lie in his room for days on end with broken bones and stinging wounds.

Remus swallowed, and nodded again, managing to offer James a small smile before he went back to staring down into the wood of the table.

Sirius pointedly avoided looking across towards the Slytherin table. As the owls came diving through the hall, he chewed down at his lip. He wasn't nervous. He _wasn't_. Snape had only been… provoking him, as James had said. What did Snivellus know, anyway? The slime ball. Just trying to find a way to get back at him for their joking around. Not that Sirius would put it past Bellatrix to go snitching about him to his parents; that was exactly the kind of thing she'd revel in doing.

Remus clung on to this idea of him being homesick, and decided to traipse back to the dormitory. The walk there strained him enough, so he was relieved to fall back down onto his bed. The other three won't ask any questions for now, with them having labelled his odd behaviour as homesickness. But that excuse wasn't going to be able to work for the next seven years. He needed something else; perhaps even lots of somethings, so that they don't notice a pattern… it was just difficult to think of something liable, especially with his mind churning through waves of nausea. Glad though he was of the fact that Dumbledore had created great precautions to ensure others' safety, Remus had that little voice in the back of his mind doubting whether it would be enough. Whether he should simply just cut himself off from everybody else, focus on the education that he'd come here for… but that wasn't what he'd told the Sorting Hat, was it? More than anything, he wanted to be treated like everyone else, as someone normal. And yet he couldn't believe that he was. Not yet. Not at the precipice of his transformation, that was for certain. He was scared, scared for the rest of the school, all the ways this could go wrong… he didn't want to hurt anyone, but there was every chance he could. He was endangering them all simply by him being here. Remus groaned as he argued with himself, backtracking on his own thoughts and ending up with a greater headache to deal with. Now was not the time to be making things worse for yourself, he thought sternly.

Remus lay there miserably as the day drew on. His senses were spiking, growing ever more attentive to his surroundings; even the sound of his heartbeat pounded like the toll of a drum, thundering through his ears. Fortunately for him, the other dormitory members hadn't returned, so Remus had at least been left in peace. His eyes were closed from the rest of the world, and the cogs of his mind started to slow. The last full moon seemed so long ago, despite it only being a few weeks. Normally, the moon felt like a constant presence, since it was the only thing he could really do. Years of being cut off and isolated held back opportunities to draw his thoughts from the next time he was going to transform, and now he was suddenly here, under a fresh, new roof, with magic quite literally at his fingertips, and so the previous events of the moon had shrunk away, not able to grip its hold as tightly upon Remus. Of course, now, with it barely hours away, and the reaction to his new home having died down, his thoughts began to swim to familiar fears.

Such thoughts hadn't relinquished from him much later into the evening, as Remus made his way to the hospital wing. Luckily, now knowing how to get there, it didn't take too long, and he was able to slip inside and inform his presence to Madam Pomfrey quickly before flopping down to a cool, neatly procured bed. The curtains were drawn around him, and Remus concentrated on the sounds of Madam Pomfrey pottering around his enclosed space, for much as his head ached, he was far from getting a decent sleep and those sounds of soft footsteps and clinking phials were easier to focus on than the sound of his breathing. He hadn't bothered to go down to the Great Hall for dinner; he realised groggily that his disappearance may rouse suspicions and confusion, but Remus was sure that him having gone down there would bring up far more questions about his wellbeing – not that many people would take much notice to him anyway, being a small, quiet first year.

"Remus, dear, it's time to get up."

He hadn't gotten any sleep – not that he'd expected to. His mind was wired into panicking through the most of the night, worried about the horrendous list of 'what if's' that could happen. He dragged himself out from under the covers and got shakily to his feet, to feel a reassuring hand at his shoulder. Madam Pomfrey led him out from the hospital wing and through on to the grounds; the sky was still dark in the early morning, and Remus felt sick to his stomach. The silhouette of the Whomping Willow loomed into view – Remus stared in mingled shock and horror at the gargantuan mass of flailing branches. _That was a tree?_ A sudden swarm of guilt invaded his already giddy mind. He was the reason for this… tree, to be at this school. The warnings Dumbledore had given on their first evening suddenly made a lot more sense. That tree looked capable of putting up a pretty good fight. As if Remus being here in the first place wasn't dangerous enough. Madam Pomfrey raised her wand and, at her instruction, a forlorn twig lifted up from the ground and floated betwixt the thrashing branches; it skimmed through the air and prodded a large knot upon the trunk. All at once, the tree ceased in its movement. Remus gaped, as Madam Pomfrey gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze and coaxed him forward, towards the tree. As they neared, Remus saw an opening amongst the roots – a passageway? Remus had to admire Dumbledore's ingenuity as Madam Pomfrey helped him scoot down and drop down into the passageway, plunging into a darkness much thicker than the outdoors.

Remus shivered as they trekked through the dank twisting dirt path, for it was quite cold under the ground. His muscles were screaming at him to stop moving, but he ignored their pleading, concentrating directly ahead of him. The walk seemed to last hours: eventually the path narrowed to a small opening. Remus scrambled through with the last of his waning energy, Madam Pomfrey giving him a hand but not following after him.

"This is where you'll be staying during your transformation," she informed through the small space. "This space won't be big enough for you to get through as a werewolf, so don't worry about any chances of that. I'll be back in a couple of hours to help you back." She gave him a small smile, and bid him luck for the hours ahead. Remus watched as her form tottered away, before turning around.

He was stood in a creepy looking house, and whilst he was grateful for such hospitality in isolating his wolf form, his heart sank. The walls were bare, a tinged muddy beige hue, and the floor was dusty wooden planks that creaked as Remus moved around. His eyes caught sight of a staircase, and so he scooted over and stumbled up the stairs, to find a door that led into a spacious room. There were large, grimy glass windows, looking out into the early morning – at least it wasn't midnight, Remus thought. He hated those full moons, because the moon itself was much brighter. Now, however, there was just a dull eerie glow enveloping the room, which sent a chill down Remus' spine, but nothing more. Remus flexed his hands nervously as he regarded the room; the prison made just for him, to spend the next seven years. Well, the amount of time he'd manage to get through at this school before being kicked out, at least.

Remus always hated this part of the transformation: the waiting. He stripped down, not wanting to rip his pyjamas to shreds, and scoured the room for somewhere to store them. He found a loose floorboard, and tugged it up, stuffing his clothes there and closing it back up. He paced to the centre of the room, then walked towards a corner in the room. He needed the walls to lean on, no longer having the strength to hold himself up. He was shaking, incredulously so, and every inch of him ached. The moon was to be at its full capacity in mere minutes, and already he was a trembling heap on the floor. Remus – not for the first time – wondered why on earth Dumbledore had been so insistent upon him coming to this school. Why would anyone want him anywhere? At home, the transformations had been painful, but it had almost felt normal; it was something the whole family understood and prepared for every month. But here, as a student, it dawned on Remus just how different he was from everyone else. If he were normal, he would be peacefully asleep in his dormitory. He would never miss a class, wouldn't have to worry about precautions or getting too attached to people in case they started to see him for what he was. Instead, here he was; curled up in the corner of a strange, unfamiliar house that creaked of its own accord, spending his days around the moon with fear that it was obvious something was up. He desperately wanted to make friends, but there was a constant voice in his head telling him just how bad of an idea that was.

Remus' heart rate began to increase rapidly, blood rushing through his veins with gusto. His bones clicked and cracked; Remus whimpered as they popped out of place and grew under his skin, rearranging themselves into their new form. His hair grew thicker and darker; atop his head it retracted back into his skull, and across his body hair grew and pierced through his skin like hundreds of needles. His hands curled as his fingers lengthened, going crooked as his nails sharpened and became more pointed. His spine arched; his teeth grew painfully, splitting his gums. Remus let out a moan of pain; it spiralled in pitch to a low growl, the last thing he heard before the mind of the wolf took over, and Remus was no more.

He didn't know what woke him up, hours later – the creaking of the house, the scent of blood, or the drumming of his erratic heartbeat. Remus groaned as he stirred, his mind in disarray. He blinked slowly, the effort straining him. He blearily looked around the scope of the room. The wolf had not been pleased with its new residence; he could tell that just from the pain he was in. The wolf had been angry. He'd even taken a swipe at the house, Remus noted, his eyes trailing across the gouge marks scraped along the wall. Remus sat himself up, lacking the energy to voice his pain, and crawled over to the floorboard where he'd kept his clothing. He pulled it out, but saw no point in putting it on; having blood-soaked attire would be as bad as them being shredded remains. He curled up into a ball, shivering in the emptiness, the sting of cool air on his damaged skin.

Sometime after, Remus picked up the sound of footfalls treading along a dirt path – Madam Pomfrey. He listened as she muttered a charm, and stepped into the house itself. He caught the sound of a muffled gasp, and assumed from that that the wolf must have taken a trip downstairs too during its rampage. Creaking footsteps echoed across the stairs and onto the landing; Madam Pomfrey appeared at the door with a large blanket in hand. She walked to him and cleared up the blood – Remus didn't have the vitality to be embarrassed at his own naked form, more focused on wanting to be free from the pain he was in. He was swathed in the blanket, and Remus snuggled further into the realms of warmth as he was bundled up into Pomfrey's arms – he saw no point in insisting he could walk, because they both knew he really couldn't. As they exited the house, Remus' eyelids fell heavy and sunk, closing off the rest of the world as he nodded off out of pure exhaustion.

-oooO0Oooo-

"You know, I haven't seen that Remus kid at all today," James commented to Sirius as they headed back to their dormitory.

"He might've got up early, because I didn't see him this morning," Sirius said. They darted through the common room and headed up the staircase to the boys' dorms.

"He didn't look too good yesterday," James reminded, "Must be feeling really homesick."

"That's must be difficult. I know _I'm_ not homesick, though."

"Not even a bit?"

Sirius shook his head. He pushed open the dormitory door and sauntered in, clambering onto his bed; James followed in after him.

"I kinda miss home, but not much – I mean, we're in Hogwarts," James exclaimed simply. " _Hogwarts_ , ya know? I've looked forward to coming here for years."

Sirius made to reply, but was interrupted by a tapping at the dormitory window. He frowned, and pushed off from his bed, going over and opening up the window. An owl flew in, letter clasped in its beak, and landed gracefully onto Sirius' bed. Sirius and James stared as it dropped the letter down, ruffled its feathers, and soared back out of the room again.

"Hey," James murmured, eyeing the dark crimson envelope, "that doesn't look good."

Sirius' heart sank. A part of him wanted to keep away from the letter, knowing full well all about Howlers, but the other part of him just wanted it over with. He strode over: it was, as he'd suspected, a Howler. Sirius hopped back down onto his bed, cross legged, and picked up the envelope. The handwriting was obvious; his mothers'. Sirius glanced over to James, who was peering over at him with curiosity and concern. James caught him looking, and straightened, looking every bit a deer caught in headlights. "You don't want me to listen, do you?"

"It's fine; it can't be that bad," Sirius dismissed, as he tore the envelope open. The pair watched as the letter swung up into the air and began to speak: Sirius winced at the reminder of his mother's voice, screeching in his ears.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK. YOU HAD ONE OPPORTUNITY TO DO YOUR FAMILY PROUD; I WASN'T EXPECTING MUCH OUT OF YOU, BUT I'D'VE THOUGHT THAT YOU'D HAVE AT LEAST MANAGED THE ONE TASK OF GETTING INTO SLYTHERIN HOUSE. OF COURSE YOU SETTLE FOR GRYFFINDOR! I AM FRANKLY APPALLED; ALL THESE YEARS YOU'VE BEEN AN ABSOLUTE MENACE TO OUR FAMILY, AND TO FIND YOU'VE SUNK EVEN LOWER – THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS; THINK OF HOW THIS WILL AFFECT OUR REPUTATION, HOW IT'LL AFFECT REGULUS! IT FILLS ME WITH UTTER HORROR THAT _YOU_ ARE THE ONE TO BE HEIR OF THE BLACK FAMILY. I WANT YOU BACK OVER THE HOLIDAYS SO WE CAN REMIND YOU OF YOUR PLACE IN OUR FAMILY – YOU'D BETTER START GETTING YOUR ACT TOGETHER UNTIL THEN! I DON'T WANT TO BE HEARING ANY MORE FAILINGS OF YOURS THROUGH YOUR DEAR COUSIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

The letter tore itself up into shreds after the final words had been spat at Sirius, who was trembling despite doing his best in keeping stoic to her words. Silence swamped the room as Sirius stared where the letter had just been, stuck between hating his mother for being so ridiculous, and feeling dispirited for not being able to have ever been seen as anything more than a disappointment in his parents' eyes. He overheard an uncomfortable shift on the bed beside him, and remembered that James was still there, having heard the whole thing. Sirius attempted a grin, and muttered, "Well, that could have been a lot worse."

James gaped at him. "Worse? You've had worse?! Sirius…" He jolted up and bounded across onto Sirius' bed. He gawked at Sirius for several moments, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out what to say. "I… you… Was that your mum?"

Sirius nodded. "Sounds lovely, doesn't she," he grimaced.

"Does she treat you like that often?"

Sirius scoffed, "That was her being relatively nice," he said. Seeing James' reaction to this, he hastily added, "But usually she prefers to ignore me."

James' shoulders sank as he stared at Sirius exasperatedly. "I didn't realise there were families that could be like that," he mumbled. "Although… you said they're all from Slytherin, didn't you?" He gave a small grin, and Sirius let out a breathy chuckle. James faltered, before looking down to his hands. "You wouldn't find it weird if I hugged you, right?"

Sirius' brow furrowed in confusion. "Hugged me? Why?"

James put his arms around Sirius and pulled him into a hug. Sirius stiffened at first, the comforting feeling unfamiliar to say the least, and felt all the more confused. When James wouldn't let go, Sirius relaxed a little; he found this oddly reassuring.

"My mum always hugs me whenever I feel sad," James explained quietly.

"I'm not sad."

James paused, feeling like he should point out that no one could surely come out from that letter completely unscathed, but decided to let it go for now. He hugged Sirius tighter, then pulled away, to grin at the other boy. "I don't mean to be rude, but your family's pretty rubbish."

Sirius snorted. "That was the definition of rude," he retorted, before nodding in agreement. "But it's true, I suppose. Not all of them are like my mother, though. Well, _most_ of them are… but there's a couple that are alright."

"Hey, maybe you could join my family instead," James piped up, his grin growing wider.

"You wish," Sirius replied; James made a face at him and Sirius giggled. The mild embarrassment of James having an insight to Sirius' family affairs diminished completely, and Sirius gave James a grateful smile before reciprocating what was quickly becoming a competition in who could make the stupidest face, letting the thoughts of the Howler float away from the forefront of his mind.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. Finally finished it though; my apologies for it taking a while.**

 **Hope you're liking it so far! Reviews would be lovely - constructive criticism is appreciated as well if I've made any mistakes :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Peter woke to what sounded like someone being pummelled by a pillow. He peered out from under the covers – to find that someone was, in fact, being pummelled by a pillow. James was looming over the bed where Sirius slept, excitedly attempting to drag him out from where the latter was hiding from the attack. Two thumps of a pillow later, Sirius threw his cover off and tackled James down, who yelped in surprise. Peter laughed as the pair fell none too gracefully to the floor, Sirius' bedcover slipping off the bed after them. Peter himself ambled out of bed and padded over to the bathroom to get ready.

"I win," James exclaimed amidst heavy breaths, giving Sirius a lopsided grin.

"Nah, you didn't," Sirius denied, and snatched up the pillow and whacked James with it.

"Got you out of bed, though, didn't I," James pointed out, dodging another swipe. "And why shouldn't you want to, on this day of all days?"

"Why, James, what in Merlin's name could possibly be happening today," Sirius asked in mock wonder. "Surely not our first flying lesson?"

James leapt to his feet. "They won't be ready for me, I know it. I'm already too skilled for mere lessons – there's nothing they can teach me, for I am the Quidditch extraordinaire!"

"Sure," Sirius nodded, "And I have an Order of Merlin, First Class." James pouted at him, so he shrugged. "These are all just words; you could be absolutely horrific at flying for all we know."

"Then I shall prove you peasants wrong!" James started zooming around the room, flapping his arms madly. "You'll see for yourse-Oof! Sorry Peter," he laughed, having knocked the poor boy flying upon exiting the bathroom.

James and Sirius later trooped down to the Great Hall, quickly followed by Peter, and finally Remus. The latter had opted to sit a little away from the other three, who, upon seeing this, picked up their plates and shifted down to gather around him. Remus appeared initially unnerved by this, but a smile had bloomed across his pale face, and he'd managed to relax through breakfast, listening to James and Sirius chatter.

The day after Sirius had gotten his Howler, Remus had returned from his unusual disappearance, and James would be lying if he'd thought the boy looked in any realm of suitable wellbeing. But as the days drew on, he became steadily less peaky and was more willing to talk to other people, so James assumed he was getting better. Of course, he'd questioned about the kid's whereabouts, to discover he'd visited the Hospital Wing, due to his homesickness getting too much for him. James sympathised, obviously, but was curious as to why there was a recent, thin cut running along the boy's jaw, in addition to the other two silvery scars across his face. When James had gone to press about the matter, however, Sirius – who'd been there with him at the time – seemed to have read his mind, and pulled him away before he could ask, saying that it was best to let Remus be. James had found that odd – wasn't Sirius curious too? But all the same, James had relented.

"Are you looking forward to it," he queried now, casting his gaze to Remus. "The flying lesson?"

Remus had appeared surprised that he was being included amongst conversation, and faltered. An owl swung past; James ducked out of the way, watching it land before the small blonde boy, Peter, before he turned expectantly back to Remus.

"A _flying_ lesson?" Remus repeated blankly. He fumbled in his robes and brought out his timetable, perusing it for several moments. "Oh. We have to fly?"

James stared at him, baffled. "Yes, on broomsticks," he stated, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was. Obviously. Apparently this wasn't so obvious for Remus, who licked his lips nervously and knitted his brow in worry.

"Is it dangerous?"

"I doubt it will be," Sirius said with a shake of his head. "Quidditch can be though."

" _Quidditch_?"

This time, two pairs of eyes widened dramatically at Remus. Sirius and James shared a sideward glance.

"You haven't heard of Quidditch?"

"Basically it's a sports game-"

"Like football?" Remus suggested, to be met with blank looks. "Erm… it's a muggle game… there are two teams that kick a ball around and have to get it into the opposite team's goal."

"Really?" Sirius exclaimed, clearly fascinated by the concept.

"Well, Quidditch is like that, but better," James interrupted, wanting to return to the more important focus of the conversation. "There are two teams of seven, and they have to get the Quaffle to go through one of the three hoops of the opposite team. The game ends when the Seeker catches the Snitch, and the winner is the team with the most points at the end."

Remus blinked several times, taking it in. "And, so… we have to learn that in our flying lessons?"

"Oh, no," Sirius chuckled. "We just learn our way around a broomstick; how to fly it properly, you know, the basics."

"So do muggles not have broomsticks, then," James enquired. Remus shook his head, and James gaped. "But then how do you play the… feet-ball…?"

"Football," Remus corrected with a small smile. "It's played on the ground."

James frowned in disbelief. What was the point of _that_?

Sirius tapped his shoulder. "Hey, James, we should probably think about actually getting down to the lesson."

James nodded, and got to his feet. "See you there," he waved to Remus, and he started off after Sirius, who'd already began to walk towards the doors of the Great Hall.

Remus watched as they walked on, and returned to his breakfast. He downed the rest of his pumpkin juice – a drink he'd tried on his second day, and to his surprise found that it was quite nice – and took a bite out of his toast.

He was feeling a lot better now that the full moon was over with, and was able to stomach food a lot more. James and Sirius had questioned him about his disappearance, but he'd managed to pull it off. He'd distanced himself a little from them post-full moon, as he'd felt uncomfortable in his own skin after the events of Sunday morning, with a dozen more irritable scars. Madam Pomfrey had healed where she could; werewolf scratches were impossible to fully heal, but she cleaned him up and mended bones and such, handing him another calming drought in case he needed it. It had been weird to feel so much better so soon after the moon, because whilst at home his mother had always done her best to help him, it usually took a while for Remus to be able to face the day. Then again, he was at a school now, so he had more reason to push his injuries aside and get up.

He finished off his toast, and got to his feet. The prospect of a flying lesson didn't fill him with much confidence – but he was going to give it a shot, whilst the opportunity was here. James had certainly been enthused by the whole thing, so surely it can't be too bad? Remus had been pleased that James and Sirius were talking to him as much as they were – they'd even moved over to sit _with_ him. Did that mean they wanted to be friends with him? Maybe that was just him being a little too optimistic… but it was a start.

As Remus walked, there came the slapping of shoes across stone flooring from behind. Had the moon been closer to being full, the sound would have grated on him, but as it was, Remus found the sound merely intriguing – he glanced in surprise when the source of the sound came in the form of Peter, the shy blonde of whom he shared the dorm with. Remus waited patiently for him to get his breath back as they exited the Great Hall.

"I… erm… letter… present…" Peter spluttered, much to Remus' confusion. Peter gulped down a lungful of air, and continued, "I've got some sweets for you."

Remus frowned. He must have heard wrong. "Pardon?"

Peter held up a bag. "Treacle fudge," he explained, handing it over to a bemused Remus. "In return for the liquorice wands you shared with me the other day."

Remus gaped at the bag, blinking profusely. "You're giving all of this to _me_ ," he said slowly.

"Yeah. Unless you don't like treacle fudge – do you?"

"Never tried it," Remus mumbled. "Thank you," he beamed, and pocketed the bag.

"No problem," Peter shrugged, but he too looked pleased at Remus' joy.

The pair walked on through to the grounds, the warmth of the sun shining on them as they strolled down the path.

"Do you like flying," Remus asked.

Peter thought it through. "It's not my favourite thing, but I don't mind it." He faltered, "That doesn't mean I'm really looking forward to the lesson much, though."

"I've never been flying," Remus commented, as they reached a smooth lawn opposite the grounds to the Forbidden Forest. There was already a gathering crowd, students in uniforms of red and gold amongst others of green and silver. They were sharing their flying class with the Slytherins, then. Remus saw a neat line of broomsticks lying on the ground, which brought up a bubble of laughter; despite the fact that he was standing in a school of magic, learning to become a wizard, with the curse of lycanthropy to deal with, the sight of a row of broomsticks seemed like the most surreal thing. He followed after Peter, and caught sight of James and Sirius, the former of the pair practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Everyone to a broom! Quickly now," exclaimed a sharp, clipped voice from behind. Remus turned (as did everyone else) to see a woman with short, grey hair and a powerful stride. Students immediately began to rush to the nearest broomstick, trying to find the one least battered and worn in the line. Remus wasn't exactly sure how to pick a _good_ broomstick, so just stepped to the closest one. It looked a little battered; the handle was peeled and scratched in places, and the twigs at the end were a chaotic mess – rather like James' hair, if that were any comparison. Remus looked nervously around him as the others analysed their own broomsticks: he caught Sirius and James muttering to each other and grinning, their gaze focused on the sallow faced boy that Lily was friends with… Severus, if he remembered rightly. Before he could question this, however, the professor (Madam Hooch, as indicated on Remus' timetable) regained their attention. The group fell silent.

"Stick your right hand over your broom," she instructed, "And say, 'Up!'"

A chorus erupted through the class as everyone did so; Remus frowned when nothing happened. He glanced to James, who was smirking: the broom was already in his hand. Sirius managed it on his second go. Remus looked back down to his own broomstick.

"Up!" The broomstick stayed firmly on the ground, almost as though it were glued in place: Remus nudged it with his foot, just to check. He tried again, and still the broom – like him – preferred to stay resolutely upon the floor, rather than fly up to his outstretched hand.

There were only few who'd managed it as easily as James, and there weren't many who could achieve it without a string of exasperated Up's.

Madam Hooch then began to teach them how to properly mount their broomsticks: Remus felt utterly stupid, holding onto the handle of the broom and having to clamber onto it correctly, so as not to bend the handle or snap any twigs from the broom that were resting against the ground. Not only that, but he kept on sliding off the end.

Eventually, he was able to keep himself (albeit haphazardly) upon his broom, and he listened as Madam Hooch told them how to kick off the ground. _Kick off the ground?_ At the statement of "rising a few feet", Remus felt rather giddy. He took a deep breath: up for a few seconds, and then down by leaning forwards… he swallowed. It was going to be fine.

The whistle blew, and Remus pushed himself up. _No, no, no – this was_ not _fine, this was the opposite of fine;_ he panicked as the ground left the soles of his shoes. His hands gripped tightly to the broom handle and he slid dangerously forward down the handle… he was going to fall, he was definitely going to fall and perhaps that wasn't so bad because that way he'd be on the ground and not floating mid-air. But then his broom started to tilt to the left. How was he supposed to control this? Did he have to communicate, like he was supposed to do to get it up? Was there an off button? Where was the steering?

The broom continued lazily tilting left, as though this was not something that would panic Remus.

"Faulty broom here, miss," came a voice, as Remus's hair began to fall across his face and spill over his eyes, and his legs started to ache in the effort they were putting into keeping him on the broom – a broom that seemed fixated on wanting to hold Remus upside down.

There came a sharp incantation, and the broom resorted itself and lowered slowly back to the ground. Remus stumbled off it in relief. There was no way he was going to do that again. Ever.

"There's a couple of brooms here that are getting a bit too old," Madam Hooch said, in explanation of the broom's behaviour. "A lot of our Shooting Stars seem to be having problems lately."

Remus nodded, not quite sure what exactly shooting stars had to do with the matter. He looked over to Sirius and, upon realising it was him who'd helped, sent him a grateful smile. Beside Sirius, James was still hovering above the ground, his arms folded with his hands not holding onto the broom handle whatsoever. Unfortunately for him, Madam Hooch happened to turn around, and immediately started to reprimand him on safety measures. James swooped back down (clearly he was rather good at flying) and hopped off the broom with ease. Madam Hooch gave him a stern warning, but now didn't seem as concerned as she'd just been only moments before (perhaps she could sense the talent in James from that mere swoop).

Later, when the lesson ended, Remus found himself walking beside Lily, who'd also participated in the class. "How did you find that, then," she grinned.

Remus smiled. "Rather horrible."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Lily nodded. "Flying isn't really my area."

"Remus! Did I not prove that I have reams of pure talent," cried James from behind them. "Ah; who's this?"

Remus spun on his heel, and Lily turned as well – but as she did, her face fell. "Oh," she muttered, suddenly disgruntled.

Remus frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's those two idiots from the train," she said, glowering. "I've been avoiding them all week."

Remus looked back towards James and Sirius. "They – _they_ were the two…?"

Lily gave a sharp exhale and shot Remus a quick smile. "I'll catch you later, Remus, okay?" At that she swiftly turned back and disappeared off across the grounds.

"Shame, I was going to introduce myself," James said as he reached where Remus was stood.

"Wasn't she the girl on the train, James," Sirius pointed out from beside him.

"She called you both idiots," Remus pointed out; to his surprise, neither of them appeared offended – instead, they simultaneously started laughing. "What – is… is that, funny?"

"Her friend wasn't exactly agreeable with us, is all," Sirius shrugged. "Anyway; first go on a broom, and you get one that's faulty," he said with a shake of his head. "We'll have to remedy that for you."

"What?"

"Next lesson," James continued from Sirius, "we'll help you pick your broom. You see, there are often tell-tale signs that show how reliable the broom is. Although, most of the school brooms aren't that great, going by what was there today."

"We have to go on the brooms _again_?"

"Don't sound so worried: we'll help you with it," Sirius assured.

"And for a first lesson, you weren't to know what it was like," James added, "so next time you'll be prepared!"

That didn't really fill Remus with much hope. They walked back up to the school; James and Sirius continued to walk alongside him.

"What _is_ a bother," James started, as they began roaming down the corridors to their next class, "is that first years can't have their own brooms. How unfair is that?"

Remus didn't fancy the concept of having his own broom, so didn't quite share James' dismay.

"How dare the school deny James Potter of his own broom," Sirius expressed in mock despair.

"Exactly! Not only that, but first years can't even join up to _play_ Quidditch."

"Quidditch is played at Hogwarts?" Remus asked. "I thought you said it was dangerous."

"I said it _can_ be dangerous," Sirius amended. "But I doubt they'd let it get out of hand in a school."

Nodding uncertainly, Remus listened as the pair continued to talk, digressing to the subject of Quidditch in general. The two boys had only known each other for a few days, and yet it seemed like they would, in time, probably become inseparable. He found it incredible that two people could click like that – how did it work? Did you just have to find the right person? Or was it more to do with the fact that they were normal, that they instinctively knew what to do, thus why Remus couldn't quite understand it. He couldn't deserve a friendship like that, he knew. Of course, he was going to prove that he _could_ be normal (as normal as a raging young magical werewolf can be, anyway), but deep down he knew he'd never get as close to anyone as those two seemed to be. The chance for a friend or two was a possibility for him, and it seemed that the others didn't mind his company, but deep down Remus knew that was as far as it was going to get. He wasn't sure if he should feel worse about that than he did – perhaps he was already so resigned by the fact that it no longer hurt. Even so, Remus shuffled into their History of Magic class with an almost wistful look towards James and Sirius, before he took his own seat.

* * *

 **Hope you're all having a lovely day/evening :)**


	6. Chapter 6

The rain pattered against the large windows of the Gryffindor common room, the warm fire embellishing the circular room in a warm, cosy light. James scooted through and ran up to the dorm, opening it up to find Sirius waiting for him. He grinned, and bounded on over to where Sirius was sat on his bed.

"James, I was thinking," Sirius started, "While I was waiting for you… you said a while back about exploring the school a bit more."

"Yeah?"

"Well, what better time to do it than now?"

There came the soft closing of a book from behind them, and the pair turned to see Remus sat on his own bed, putting his book down and peering over at them with worry.

"You're going to go sneaking around the school? Won't you get told off?"

"It won't be sneaking, per se," James said with a shake of his head. "More… wandering."

"Investigating," Sirius suggested.

"But, students aren't allowed out at night," Remus mumbled.

"How would anyone _know_ we were out, though," James pointed out.

"Teachers go on patrol," Remus said.

James and Sirius looked to each other. "Oh," they both sighed in unison.

"If only we could learn a charm to disguise ourselves, or something," Sirius muttered. He glanced to James, who was now looking at him as though he'd offered him a thousand galleons. "What?"

"Of course," James said, jumping up to his feet. "How could I have forgotten – you're a genius – this is brilliant," he muttered deliriously, dashing over to his own bed and diving into the very bottom realms of his things. Sirius frowned confusedly over at James, and glanced over towards Remus, who still looked rather worried. James returned, waving something dramatically in Sirius' face; it was a large piece of material that seemed to float through the air with the quality of water. Surely it wasn't…

"An invisibility cloak," James spluttered, sitting back down and thrusting the cloak in Sirius' hands. "My dad gave it to me over the summer. I can't _believe_ I forgot about it."

Sirius stared at the silky material slipping through his fingers. "But these are really rare," he breathed, looking it over in awe.

Remus – whilst apprehensive – crawled to the end of his bed and peered over at the two of them. "What is it," he asked quietly, curiosity getting the better of him.

"An invisibility cloak," repeated James, beaming over at Remus. The latter looked blankly at him, so James retrieved the cloak from Sirius' grasp and jumped up to his feet. He swung the cloak around his shoulders and wrapped himself in it, throwing it over his head and watching as Remus' jaw dropped. "Basically, it makes you completely invisible."  
Remus continued staring in shock, his eyes wide and his shoulders sagging in the weight of his utter bewilderment.

"That's brilliant!" Sirius yelled.

The dormitory door opened, and Peter stepped in. He looked distracted by his thoughts (probably deluged about classwork), but was snapped out of his reverie as he noted the scene. Sirius was stood on his bed, grinning broadly and cut off mid-whoop. Remus was goggling at a spot in the middle of the dormitory. Peter faltered, and was about to question what he'd walked into, when –

"Hiya: Peter, isn't it?"

Peter froze. That hadn't been the voice of Sirius or Remus. He was pretty sure that had been James' voice. But where was he?

The voice of James started to laugh; suddenly, his head appeared in the middle of the air. Peter shrieked.

Sirius collapsed back onto his bed in fits of laughter; James pulled something off him so that he was fully there; even Remus stifled a giggle as Peter stuttered his confusion.

"What the – how did you – why were you – how…?"

"Might as well show him too, James," Sirius gestured at Peter.

"Alright." James sauntered over and held up a big cloak for Peter to investigate. "It's a cloak that makes the wearer invisible."

"Where did you get it," Peter asked, miffed by the softness of the material. He'd heard about these, but he didn't think they were that easy to get. Not ones that worked really well, at least.

"My dad," James shrugged. "He said I could have it. It used to be his."

"We're going to use it to go around the school," Sirius added; James craned his neck to grin over at Sirius enthusiastically.

Remus tensed where he was sat. "But you might get into trouble," he mumbled. He knew that he wouldn't want to be so daring (much as he was sure he'd find it interesting to look around the school), in fear of his punishment being to be sent back home. His placement here was a privilege, and a fragile one at that – Remus would hate to risk losing it.

Sirius sobered a little at that, but James seemed undeterred. "And? It'll be fun. It's not like we're doing anything dangerous."

Remus chewed at his lip, eyeing the cloak before returning back to his book, clearly not wishing to be included. James, cloak in hand, sidled over to Sirius. The latter hopped off his bed and helped James as the pair threw the cloak over themselves, disappearing from sight.

Peter couldn't help but marvel at them: he held the door of the dormitory open, and when he assumed they'd walked through, he closed it back up. He would never think to go against the teacher's instructions, much as he was sure it was probably fun. Was that childish? To fear getting told off? He padded over to his own bed, glancing at Remus as he did so. Remus didn't join with them, either, Peter thought to himself. Perhaps it was best to leave James and Sirius to it.

-oooO0Oooo-

The rain smothered the sound of two sets of footsteps trailing through the common room. The pair snuck through the portrait, much to the fat lady's shock (since no one was there to have opened the door in the first place), and darted off down the corridor.

The castle was far more eerie at night. During the day, corridors were enveloped in the outdoor light shining through the windows; hallways were bustling with students, teachers and ghosts alike; portraits couldn't be heard over the cacophony. But now, as James and Sirius traipsed under the cloak, it was almost as though they were host to a different castle: every footfall came back as a dull echo; candles illuminated the staircases but gave no light to the corridors or hallways – shadows could do no more but dance and flicker along the bannisters, but reigned throughout the rest of the castle. Witches and wizards snored gently from where they resided in their portraits, the odd one or two having a hushed, sleepy conversation.

"Do you think there are secret passages here in Hogwarts," James whispered, as they trotted carefully up one staircase, making sure not to trip over the cloak as they did.

"I would be surprised if there weren't," Sirius shrugged. "This castle is definitely big enough to have a few secrets that no one's discovered, right? I mean, getting to our house tower involves sneaking under tapestries and slipping through various narrow corridors in itself."

"Imagine if we found all the secrets of the castle," James grinned. "How cool would that be?"

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "We could keep it just to ourselves, and be the only ones who know the best ways around the place."

They continued down a wide corridor, their footsteps muffled by the large carpet laid out over the stone flooring. As they crept along, there came a suspicious sound from behind a door. James stopped Sirius, and pointed to it questioningly.

"What do you think that is?"

Sirius listened carefully: it almost sounded as though someone was throwing something around. "Sounds as though someone wants to destroy the room."

James grinned. "Shall we go and see?"

Sirius nodded eagerly, and the two reached the door. James slipped a hand out from under the cloak, and tugged at the handle, letting the door swing open. They padded in, still fully cloaked.

Several feet away from where they stood, a ghost was hovering above the desks of what looked to be an unused classroom. But he wasn't completely ghost-like; he was less silvery and transparent than a ghost, and seemed to have mastered the ability to hold things. Like the handful of quills he was throwing towards the mysteriously just-opened door.

Sirius grabbed James by the arm and dragged them both down to avoid the onslaught. The quills clattered onto the floor behind them, and the cloak slipped off as they tried to get back up to their feet.

The ghost goggled at them in surprise. "Ooh, ickle firsties!" he exclaimed in delight. "What are you doing out of bed at night? You could get in trouble, you know, if anyone heard that you were here."

As James scrabbled for the cloak, Sirius frowned over at the ghost. "So would you, making a mess like this in a classroom."

"Peeves would never get into trouble! He'd blame it on you rude little firsties! Such trouble you'll be in, you wait," the ghost, apparently called Peeves, cackled. He knocked over two desks and dived at them, yelling, "Students out of bed! Students making a mess!" He swooped past them and out through the doorway, screeching.

James jumped up, invisibility cloak in hand. "We should probably leave before someone comes looking."

Sirius nodded, hastily getting back under the safety of the cloak. "Good idea."

The two dashed out of the classroom, tripping and stumbling as they ran in the opposite direction to Peeves, clattering down staircases and slipping down corridors, much to the distress of drowsy portrait owners that awoke to their ruckus. James started laughing, and it became contagious: the pair were in hysterics by the time they'd found the fat lady. Their giggling woke her up, and after much disgruntled discussion, they convinced her to let them back in.

Remus frowned down at his book as he caught the sound of hurried footsteps outside the dormitory. Barely moments later, the door burst open; James and Sirius tumbled in.

"That was brilliant," James breathed, the cloak balled up in one hand.

Remus watched as the two collapsed onto their beds. A part of him wanted to ignore them and focus on his reading, but he was intrigued all the same. "What happened?" he asked quietly, half hoping that they wouldn't hear him.

Sirius looked up and towards Remus. "You're still awake?"

Remus nodded, gesturing to his book by explanation.

"We ran into a ghost!" James exclaimed. Remus' brow knitted. Why was _that_ so brilliant? There were ghosts around all the time. "He called himself Peeves," James added.

"Oh, he's not a ghost," Remus said with a small shake of his head.

"How d'you know that," Sirius asked.

James beamed. "Have you met him too?"

"No, Sir Nicholas told me about him," Remus explained. "Sir Nicholas isn't too fond of him – Peeves is a poltergeist."

"Awesome!" James whooped. "That explains why he could pick things up and everything: he threw things at us! He must love to prank people." He paused, an expression of sudden brilliance lighting up his face. "We should do that too!"

"What, throw things at people," Sirius scoffed.

"No; pranks," James elaborated. He seemed utterly enthused by the idea. "How fun would that be? We could become the ultimate pranksters."

Sirius tilted his head curiously, considering the idea with great thought. "That doesn't sound half bad," he agreed, nodding. "I mean, we'll be bored out of our minds if all we're doing is schoolwork."

Remus stared at the two of them. Not only were the pair sneaking around the school, but they were planning on purposefully squandering the rules by joking around. That would inevitably end up in disaster: there were so many things that could go wrong… but why was he worrying about this? He hadn't been invited to partake in these pranks, had he? There was nothing for _him_ to worry about. He sighed as the two sat down on one of their beds and began plotting in hushed whispers; Remus glimpsed over towards the third occupant of their dormitory. Peter had gone to bed a while ago, and was now gently snoring, oblivious to the current goings on. At least Remus wasn't the only one who wasn't going to be planning to rage havoc throughout the school.

* * *

 **A/N: I really wish they'd kept Peeves in the films, he was a brilliantly annoying character.**

 **Reviews let me know if you're actually enjoying my writing! (Please tell me how I'm doing with this story)**

 **xxx**


	7. Chapter 7

To say Remus Lupin was worried was an understatement. Throughout the day, his thoughts – whilst focused on work – dwindled back to the plans James and Sirius had concocted the evening prior, and he felt a surge of paranoia every time he glanced over at the pair, to see them with their heads bowed, practically glued together as they whispered during class.

They had been muttering through the entire lesson of History of Magic, able to get away with it thanks to Professor Binns' constant lack of observance. Remus managed to write a passable amount on Emeric the Evil, despite the drone of the Professor's voice making it difficult to concentrate, as well as the occasional titters from the pair sat some way behind him. Nonetheless, he got through the lesson unscathed, if a little sleepy, and headed off to Charms.

As he shuffled in amongst the other students, however, he could sense something off in the gleeful way James waited by the door. Remus found his seat, and watched as Sirius (stood where he had a good view through the doorway) nodded quickly at James before striding to his own chair. James stuck out his foot, at which moment the sallow skinned boy from Slytherin – Lily's friend – came skulking on through; he tripped over James and fell with a squawk to the floor. James burst into laughter, which soon had the rest of the class in fits, and he scrambled over to sit beside Sirius just as Professor Flitwick appeared at the top of his precarious pile of books and squeaked for the class to settle down. Severus got up to his feet, flustered and irritated, flapping the lengthy sleeves of his cloak out of the way as he stormed to his own place. Remus felt a twinge of sorrow for the boy; what on earth did James and Sirius have against him?

The class eventually settled, and they began working on a levitation charm. Remus pored over his book for the correct wand movement, following the shape of the incantation as the Professor presented it to them, checking back to his book for guidance.

In quick time, the classroom was heaving with numerous chants of the incantation. Beside him, Peter frowned down at the feather sat on the desk. "Win _gar_ dum, lev _o_ sa," he mumbled, swinging his wand madly in some rough aim of the feather. Remus and Peter watched as it wilted in front of them.

Remus looked over the book again. "I think the pronunciation might have been a little off," he said slowly, reading through, "and the wand movement is a bit sharper than that, maybe if you…"

He was distracted by another feather floating in front of them. Remus blinked in his surprise, looking for the caster – Lily. She bit back a smile and let the feather fall gently atop Peter's head.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather bounced off Peter's head as he and Remus snapped their gaze to the sudden cry, courtesy of Sirius. His own feather sprung up into the air with great speed, zooming up and smacking against the ceiling, to then explode at the sudden impact. James laughed, and mimicked Sirius being so overenthusiastic, for the latter to hit him playfully on the shoulder and pull a face in return.

Remus found himself smiling at their antics, and quickly refocused on his own feather. The most he could manage was making it hover for a couple of seconds in the air, before drifting back down. All the same, Peter seemed to find it exciting, what with his feather currently curled up and greying.

Sirius and James were plotting. Again. Their start-of-lesson laugh was just to rile the Slytherin up: now, with a levitation charm at hand, they sent glances over Snape's way as they focused on sharpening their ability on the charm.

"Okay, you think you've got it?" James asked Sirius. The classroom was so loud from the casting of the charm that they didn't need to worry about being overheard.

Sirius nodded. He aimed his wand subtly over towards where Snape was absorbed in the lesson, and said clearly, "Wingardium Leviosa."

The book of spells that lay opened up on Snape's desk began to slowly rise up in the air. Snape hadn't noticed, so intent was his gaze on the feather before him. Only when the book 'accidentally' knocked him on the head did he look up in shock. James stifled a giggle as Snape grabbed for it, throwing it back down on the desk and assuming that someone had misdirected their charm. Sirius and James waited several moments before Sirius repeated the charm. This time as Snape seized his Charms book from the air, he shot a suspicious glare across the classroom, pausing particularly at James and Sirius, who both opted an expression of nonchalance, peering down at their own books and prodding experimentally at James' feather. Snape seemed to believe them, for he returned back to his own work with nothing more than a wary glance to the class overall. Sirius snorted into the book; James chided him with stifled giggles, and aimed his own wand towards Snape. The moment he uttered the spell, Snape's Charms book swung through the air and narrowly missed smacking Snape in the face: the boy dodged it just in time, and whirled around immediately towards James and Sirius, who'd started laughing helplessly at the moody accusation across Snape's face.

-oooO0Oooo-

Remus strolled down to the greenhouse for his Herbology lesson, mulling over the classwork he'd learnt that day as well as the homework he had to get through. As he walked, he felt a slight tug around his collar; he glanced down to find that his tie had wormed its way out from where he'd tucked it neatly under his jumper, and was waving in the air with the manner of a snake, swishing lazily around in front of Remus. He tugged it down and stuffed it back in its place, spinning around to see James and Sirius striding jovially behind him.

"How did you find the levitation charm, then, Remus," Sirius queried with a grin, pocketing his wand.

"Well," Remus said, "it was certainly interesting. I think I found it more enjoyable than Severus did," he added with a raised brow.

"You noticed our genius then," James yapped.

"Well, I wouldn't call it genius…"

"Ah, come on, Remus," Sirius said, nudging Remus by the shoulder. "It was funny, admit it."

Remus chose to keep that opinion to himself. Instead, he asked, "what do you have against him?"

"He was rude about Gryffindor house and revelled at that opportunity of being in Slytherin, on the train journey to Hogwarts," James exclaimed, clearly still not over the whole affair.

Remus hesitated. "Is that it?"

"Is that it?!" James gawked at him. "I felt personally offended by his snide remarks."

"But you weren't in Gryffindor at that point."

"Oh, I knew I was going to be sorted into Gryffindor," James shrugged. "It's the only house for me."

"As for Slytherin, that's a definite no-go," Sirius informed.

"Why?"

"Because Slytherin isn't exactly known for its plentiful amount of glorious wizards and witches," James said matter-of-factly. "Most tend to dwell towards the dark arts."

Remus chewed at his lip in thought. Werewolves, he knew, were judged overall based on the accounts of the very few of whom truly were a danger to society; he didn't feel like James' argument counted for very much. Even so, he kept quiet, and found himself walking beside the two as they reached the greenhouse.

Apparently the pranking was not over for the day: Sirius and James each took turns in levitating many of the bouncing bulbs that Snape was working on, and used the same trick as they had on Remus to pull up the green and silver tie around Snape's neck. Professor Sprout was not impressed, as the bouncing bulbs were rather fragile, and "throwing them carelessly around like that will damage the shell of the bulb, Mr Potter! Five points from Gryffindor." Snape had smirked at that, to have the sleeves of his robes levitate upwards, making his arms dangle uselessly in the air.

An hour later, with their Herbology lesson over, James and Sirius were congratulating one another upon their great finesse, to be halted by a girl with long, dark red hair.

"What were the pair of you thinking," she exclaimed in outrage, glaring at the two of them.

James and Sirius shared a sideward glance, and bit back amused grins.

"We were practising our learning of the levitation charm from earlier," Sirius proclaimed, "we surpassed the task with feathers, and thought we'd have a shot at the far heavier, and more delicate, bouncing bulbs."

"They spend half their time in the air anyway," James quipped, for him and Sirius to laugh.

This only aggravated the girl more. "You were purposely trying to annoy Severus – in Charms _and_ Herbology. And you lost us five house points!"

"A tragic loss," Sirius nodded sadly.

"But we'll make up for it with our extensive skill on the levitation charm," James continued.

"That's not the point! He wasn't doing anything to _you_ , was he?"

"I think the glares and smirks were certainly considered as something," Sirius pointed out.

"One could even say that he appreciated our eagerness to succeed in the finer charms of our education," James declared.

"You two are absolutely awful," the girl snapped, and turning sharply on her heel, she stormed off.

Sirius and James watched after her, before exchanging broad grins.

"You know, I think she admires us really," James commented.

-oooO0Oooo-

Later on, Peter found Sirius and James in the dormitory, levitating various objects over their heads as they discussed potential pranks.

"Wow, you can actually do it," Peter exclaimed, staring up at the floating books, quills and inkpots.

"It was relatively simple," James shrugged. "Got a bit of fun out of it too."

"We were levitating Snivellus' book," Sirius elaborated.

"Hit him with a couple of bouncing bulbs, for good measure."

"That was you two?" Peter gasped.

"Yep," James nodded. "We're thinking of what else we should do."

"See, we've started at the lowest rank," Sirius said, "which was Snivellus. We're planning to get steadily up the rank."

"Who else is on this rank," Peter asked, mildly nervous that he would be included in this list, as he sat down before the pair.

"Well, we were thinking of pranking Remus," James started, "only to make him laugh, as opposed to annoy him – he's very quiet but I think after a couple of pranks we'll get through to him."

"Then we'll get through each of the teachers," Sirius continued, "Professor Binns being the easiest because he never notices anything."

"You're going to prank _teachers_ ," Peter exclaimed, his jaw dropping at the daring of these two.

"Of course." James grinned mischievously as he said, "My goal by the end of these seven years is to be able to manage to prank Professor McGonagall."

"It'll never happen," Sirius said with a shake of his head.

Peter watched in awe as they returned to their conversation. He looked up to the objects swimming over his head. These two must be really good at magic to be able to keep them up in the air whilst talking, he thought to himself. He could barely manage a feather with all his concentration, let alone distractedly hold up multiple items at once. Peter had a feeling he was going to learn a lot from these two. Most likely it was to be things around the theme of trouble-making, but all the same: learning.

-oooO0Oooo-

Remus wandered between the bookcases, tilting his head to read the spines of the books. He'd discovered that the library was one of his favourite places, and had been coming here almost every day. The amount of volumes here were endless: even with his love of reading, he was sure it would take years for him to get through all these books at least once. The thought seemed to buoy him, though, at the prospect of never running out of books – not for a long shot, anyway.

So absorbed was he in his searching, that he walked straight into someone. "Sorry," he squeaked, overshadowed by the Ravenclaw fifth year, who shrugged as if it was nothing. Remus hastily darted down a different row of shelves, feeling his face burn in embarrassment. He attempted to compose himself; as he did, he saw a familiar face down the end of the row.

"Hello Lily," he beamed, the last of his embarrassment melting away as he strode over to meet her.

She smiled at him. "Hiya Remus. How are you?"

"Great," Remus replied honestly. He really was feeling rather spirited: he was at the peak of the month, and relishing in it. He was enthused by what they were learning, even finding the homework fascinating, and much as he felt that he should disapprove of James and Sirius' antics from earlier today, he couldn't help but feel mildly amused. Of course, he disliked the fact that they were so against one particular student, who in Remus' eyes had done no wrong, but their efforts were clearly with talent and ingenuity. It hadn't been what Remus had expected at all. All of this – combined with the comforting atmosphere of the library, the scent of books, and the presence of someone he felt he could consider as a friend – summed up to make Remus feel pretty spectacular. "How about you?" he asked, deeming it only polite to return the question.

"Researching antidotes for common poisons," Lily replied, elaborating, "For our Potions homework."

"Right," Remus nodded. "Would you mind if I joined you?"

"Not at all," Lily said happily, and she led him to a table she was occupying, a sheet of parchment flattened on the surface and half-scribbled over. "I've found a couple, but I couldn't remember all of the ones that Professor Slughorn listed."

"Hold on; I think I wrote them down…" Remus searched through his cloak pockets and retrieved a scrap of parchment. "There," he said, putting the list down for Lily to read. "I added a few at the end, because I'd read about some other ones in the Potions book and I was interested to find out about them as well."

Together Lily and Remus sat completing their Potions homework in the warmth of the library, their faces illuminated by the lit torches located around the area as the sky outside darkened.

"You were very good at the levitating charm today," Remus commented brightly, as they finished off the last paragraph.

"Thanks!" Her expression soured however, as she thought back to the lesson. "Those two dorks from our house were annoying today, though."

"You mean James and Sirius?"

Lily nodded tersely. "Did you see what they were doing to Severus?"

Remus swallowed, giving himself a moment before responding. "Yes," he replied quietly. "I don't think it was fair to target one pupil like that," he said, thinking that if he said anything else, Lily wouldn't be impressed. It was truthful, after all; he hadn't been overly fond of the fact James and Sirius only wanted to annoy Severus, when there was an entire class worth of students.

"Of course it wasn't," she agreed, as they packed up their things. "I'm glad you seem to have your head screwed on properly."

Remus gave a weak smile, wisely deciding to keep the fact he had admittedly found the affair slightly amusing to himself.

"Perhaps if _you_ tell them, they'll listen," Lily suggested. "When I confronted them, they just found it funny."

"I don't think they'll listen to me," Remus said, shrugging the strap of his bag onto his shoulder as the two walked out of the library. "They don't really know me at all well, they just sort of sit around me in the Great Hall."

Lily sighed, defeated. "Well, let's just hope they won't be so annoying from now on."

Remus doubted that this was in any way likely, but merely kept his mouth shut and offered her a hopeful smile as they traipsed back to the common room.


	8. Chapter 8

The days started to swing by with great gusto now that everyone had settled into the routine of school life, whether that be for the first years, so new to the concept; the seventh years, already under swathes of pressure and heavy workloads; even the professors, who once more were getting used to the continuous teaching and marking procedure. The sun began to visit the school less, constantly shrouded by thick grey clouds. The wind was spiked with a bitter chill, the leaves of the trees absorbing a more golden glow: scarves, jumpers, hats and even gloves were becoming common accessories to be worn around the school – excluding lesson time itself, as Professor McGonagall found herself having to remind many pupils.

First years were soon finding that homework was also a common thing to have to deal with, much to their dismay. Remus was one of the few who was able to cope with this particular issue – at least, he had been, occasionally sitting with Lily to complete various assignments in the library or common room, sometimes outside if the weather was reliable. Now, however, with the full moon around the corner, his concentration was already starting to weaken. He did his best to focus on his work, but he could only last so long until he took refuge by collapsing on a chair, sofa, or bed (whatever was closest). But with the full moon in mind, Remus was all the more determined to work, reminding himself that he could easily be kicked out of the school unless he proved himself a worthy pupil.

All the same, Remus wished he could feel as carefree as his fellow dorm members did. James and Sirius were disappearing out every other night under the cloak, traipsing through the corridors at night (they'd almost gotten caught seven times so far: Remus was subjected to a regular update). They complained about the homework, marvelling at how Remus always managed to have everything finished, whilst they groaned under a pile of incomplete assignments. Despite this, the both of them were doing extremely well in class, and somehow had a decent amount of homework done just in time for the lesson (and when they didn't, they had rather wondrous excuses for it).

Peter was – thankfully – not as loud or mischievous as the other two: whilst Remus liked having the entertainment of James and Sirius, who (as he'd suspected) were quickly becoming a known duo, Remus appreciated having someone of a meeker persona to balance out the havoc of their dormitory. Peter was kind and actually rather funny once encouraged to step out of his shell, but usually kept to himself, constantly worried about his progress in class. Remus only really saw what Peter was actually like when they were in the dormitory, where others weren't around to judge him.

But Peter was spending quite a lot of time admiring the daring of James and Sirius, which (whilst Remus could understand) meant that Remus was left to himself more often than not. James and Sirius spent so much time elaborating pranks and going off on their escapades that Remus only really saw them at mealtimes and during class. They'd even thrown a couple of pranks his way, much to Remus' shock (his paranoia clearly hadn't been without reason) – but they assured that they meant well, so all Remus had to do was just keep a little more wary around himself, especially whenever they were nearby and sporting suspicious looks.

As Remus sat and worked through a Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, though, the last thing he wanted was to be disturbed. His mind was weary, and he'd written the thing out three times already; he did not want to have to start over now. He knew, with sweat forming along his brow and his hunched shoulders starting to yawn in their prolonged, stiff position, that it was but a matter of minutes before he'd just have to leave the essay and lie down on his bed.

Explaining the characteristics of the Gytrashes was slowly burning away at his mind; so much so that he didn't notice the door of the dormitory swing open. He was more focused on trying to cram as much information as he could onto the parchment before he was completely zapped of energy.

James bounded to the centre of the room, letting the door close with a 'bang' loud enough to jog Remus in his scrawling. He frowned: he was _not_ going to re-do the essay, not for one mistake.

"Oh, hello Remus," James exclaimed brightly. Remus nodded to show he'd heard the greeting, but did nothing to reply. He felt as though if he talked, if he took an ounce of his focus away from his homework, then he wouldn't find the strength to return to it for the rest of the night. And he really needed this to be finished tonight, because the full moon was only a day away, the homework being due barely a day after that. "What are you up to," James queried curiously.

Remus briefly wondered why James was talking to him, and not Sirius, when he realised that the latter wasn't in the room. That surprised him enough to look up from his work.

"Homework," Remus mumbled. "Where's Sirius?"

James grinned, "Planting some dung bombs in Professor Binns' classroom."

Remus sighed in mild exasperation. "And where did you get them from?"

"Found them the other night. Well, actually, we spooked Peeves and he dropped them." James bounded over to sit beside Remus on the bed: Remus muffled a whimper and exchanged his grimace for something more of a pained smile, to cover up the fact that the sharp movement jolted uncomfortably through his very skeleton, it seemed. "Do you always spend your time doing homework?"

"I like to have things finished," Remus muttered in response. "I don't want it to all pile up."

"You should come along with me and Sirius instead," James suggested. "If you want to. On the weekends, I mean, instead of being cooped up."

Remus chewed at the inner side of his cheek. That, to him, sounded like an extension of friendship – or, at the very least an opportunity to tag along. In his current state of mind, however, Remus very much preferred to be left alone; not only because he was worried that his symptoms were far more obvious around during this time, but because the thought of having to converse and move and laugh was making his stomach churn. He just wanted to _sleep_. "But all you do is prank people and go against the rules," Remus protested softly. He knew he would regret dismissing the chance of being accepted, once the full moon was over, but he couldn't stop himself.

"It is kinda fun when you're on the scheming side of things," James assured, "honest."

"It's a waste of time: we're here to learn," Remus said, and returned his gaze back down to his parchment, concluding that he was too worked up to finish it now and he'd simply have to leave it.

He half expected James to sneer at him and walk off: to his surprise James laughed. "That's the beauty of it," he shrugged. "We are managing wonderfully with both." He slipped off the bed and smiled down at Remus. "If you change your mind, let us know," he said, and disappeared out of the dormitory.

-oooO0Oooo-

Peter listened to James and Sirius as they gossiped through Potions. He'd managed to procure a space beside the pair, and over the bubbling of cauldrons he was just able to make out what they were saying.

"I talked to him yesterday; I think he was a bit flustered over some work 'cause he got a bit shirty with me… didn't expect it from Remus, you know."

"He was probably just tired," Sirius offered, before adding with a smirk, "or found you annoying."

"Hey!" James cried, elbowing the dark haired boy. "Why didn't _you_ ask him, then?"

Sirius snorted. "I was kind of preoccupied at that moment in time."

Peter glanced around to see what Remus thought of the whole discussion, to falter in surprise. The boy wasn't in the Potions classroom. But he'd definitely been with them earlier today… so where was he?

Peter summoned up some confidence, and trotted nearer to the two boys. "Where is Remus?"

The two looked mildly affronted to be questioned so directly, but as they consumed the question, both their brows knitted.

"That's… a good point," James nodded warily, his eyes darting around the room.

"He was in our Transfiguration class with us earlier," Sirius added. His face lit up. "You don't think he's skiving, do you?"

Peter frowned. "I don't think he'd want to. He _likes_ learning."

"I wonder where he is, then," James pondered.

Later, when Potions class was over, the three of them – yes, three: Peter had found it in himself to join them (not to follow after them as he usually did, but actually walk with them) – began a search for the missing first year.

"Maybe he's been kidnapped by some of the suits in armour," James whispered. "The ones that occasionally walk around."

"Or _maybe_ he's been eaten by an acromantula," Sirius suggested.

"Eaten?" Peter squeaked in horror.

"Why would there be an acromantula here at Hogwarts," James retorted over Peter, sending Sirius an unimpressed look.

"Why _wouldn't_ there be? It's Hogwarts."

"Perhaps he's just ill," Peter piped up. James and Sirius both turned to him, making Peter want to recoil from the paired intensity.

Sirius shrugged. "Perhaps," he nodded, and the three continued on.

James faltered. "You don't think he's homesick again, do you," he queried.

"Again? Surely not by now," Sirius countered with a shake of his head. "It's October."

"But he disappeared for a day or two last time," James elaborated. "Just after we first arrived at Hogwarts."

The three paused, all absorbed in their thoughts.

"How about we check all of the likely places first," Sirius decided, "and then, if we still can't find him…"

"Then we'll have to assume he's been devoured by an acromantula, yeah," James nodded sadly.

"Alright," Sirius proclaimed, raising up his hands and preparing to tick off a list with his fingers. "So… Remus. Where does he like to go?" There followed a brief silence where the three glanced at each other. "Come on, think…"

"He likes to read," Peter said quietly.

Sirius grinned. "Okay, so; library," he listed enthusiastically, ticking off one finger.

"He sits in the common room and dormitory a lot," James added: Sirius also ticked these off with a following two fingers.

" _And_ it's almost lunch so there's a chance he could be in the Great Hall," Sirius exclaimed finally, clapping his hands together. "Those four locations are our best shot, I think, at finding that Remus."

James and Sirius high-fived, Peter beaming at the pair, and together they began their trek. They scrambled to the library – a place none of them had actually visited as of yet, and upon tumbling unceremoniously through the doorway they became subjected to the screeching of the librarian. They'd managed to dart through the most of the library, with no success as to Remus' whereabouts. So (after doing their best to avoid bumping into the easily irritated librarian) they ran off to Gryffindor Tower; the dormitory had been empty, and the common room filled with various Gryffindors, though none of them were of any resemblance to the quiet first year they were looking for. Finally, they headed down to the Great Hall, all three of them hoping that they'd find the boy sat at the table (much as that would have defeated the whole search they'd been on), with no such luck.

"Where _is_ this kid," James whined, flouncing onto the bench and immediately piling up his plate with food.

"Maybe he's nicked your invisibility cloak and gone for a wander around the castle," Sirius sniggered.

James shook his head. "I keep it in my bag," he answered, though the comment made him doubtful – it took all but three seconds for him to decide to dive into his bag and double check that it was still there, which it was, much to his relief.

"He could be outside," Peter put forward timidly.

"In this weather," Sirius frowned, "I doubt it."

The trio ate their lunch in moderate silence, each of them still mulling over where on earth Remus had disappeared to. That is, until they were intruded by a frowning girl with dark red hair.

"Do you know where Remus is," she asked stiffly, warily eyeing James and Sirius as she did so. "He usually sits with you lot at this time. I haven't seen him since Transfiguration; I think he slipped away at the end of it and I can't help but suspect that you two have put him up to something." Her eyes narrowed further amidst her suspicion.

"Funnily enough, we've been wondering the same thing," Sirius said; the girl snapped her gaze towards him. "We don't know where he is either."

"In fact, we've just returned from searching the place for him," James continued.

Sirius added, "Who knew Remus had already created a fan club, in no less than a month," he grinned.

"So you haven't pranked him with anything," Lily expressed, clearly highly mistrustful.

James leant back where he sat on the bench and folded his arms. "What in Merlin's name makes you think that?"

"Yeah, I mean, we're not exactly prankster material," Sirius smirked. He gestured towards Peter. "Take Peter here, for example. Does he look in any way dangerous to you?"

Peter shied away from the attention, but did nothing to stop it – nor did he say anything. He merely kept his gaze away from the girl's piercing gaze, because it was slightly scary.

"I was talking more about you two," she snapped, her gaze flitting between James and Sirius. "You are still doing stupid things to Severus, and it's not fair."

"I was thinking more… amusing, than fair," James agreed.

"It's bullying and you know it," she scowled. "You're both pathetic."

"You're the one who came over to talk to us," Sirius pointed out.

The girl fumed; she realised that they knew as much about Remus' location as she did, and with that now at the forefront of her mind, she left them to it.

"She's delightfully pleasant, wouldn't you say," James quipped with a grin.

"I wonder why she's so worried about Remus," said Sirius curiously.

Peter, who was watching the girl stride away with guilt twisting at his gut – though he wasn't quite sure why, because he hadn't exactly done anything – turned to the pair. "They're friends: they study together a lot."

"Sounds like immense fun," James yawned, rolling his eyes and glancing over at Sirius, who in turn initiated a bout of snoring.

Peter glimpsed back over to the red haired girl, who he knew was so named Lily (as Remus had informed him). He had been stunned by her outrage, because Remus often mentioned how nice she was. Perhaps these two just really aggravated her; the thought was beyond him, for he found their talents and audacious behaviour rather admirable. Peter glanced back over to them, just as James shoved Sirius off of the bench whilst the latter continued to snore exaggeratedly: he yelped mid-snore and fell to a heap, managing to grab hold of James and yank him down with him at the last moment. Really admirable, Peter giggled to himself.

-oooO0Oooo-

The room was swimming. He was sure of it. The room was swimming, his chest felt like it had been torn open, and he didn't want to move. Not a limb, not a muscle; he barely managed to survive through his slow blinking as he blindly took in his surroundings. Remus' lips parted, and a whisper of a groan escaped.

"You certainly put up a fight, dear," Madam Pomfrey said, her voice loud and warm and human and just out of reach. It was all Remus could hear, but even so it sounded far away. "Got a nasty cut along the ribcage, but I've done what I can. What you need to do is rest."

Remus turned his head unbearably slowly towards where he believed her voice to be coming from. He braved through the opening of his eyelids, wincing at the effort. There was a blurred shadow of a figure standing beside the bed he realised he was lying in. He was in the hospital wing.

"No, don't get up," she insisted, just as Remus had gone to attempt just that; she eased him back down.

"I… I've, missed… classes," he croaked.

"Yes, you have. But you can't go parading around in this state," she tutted kindly. "Besides, I've only just applied a fresh layer of dittany to your chest, which needs to be left to do what it can to heal you. Just give it some time to dry over."

Remus relented. Every inch of him was in pain, his thoughts stabbed by the worry of what he'd missed during his transformation, only further induced with the fact he was drawing out the whole situation by having to get better. He appreciated Madam Pomfrey's efforts all the same – after all, she had no reason to take care of a monster like him – and eventually obliged, not that he could do much else whilst bedridden and overwhelmed by the incessant spinning of the room. With little else to do, Remus slipped back in his previously unconscious state, willing for the room to fall still and the pain to simmer down.

The next time Remus awoke, he was able to sit up in his bed without too much trouble. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glanced down to his torso, feeling a numb ache; a fresh jagged scar now dominated the rest, crookedly drawn along his ribcage. He sighed irritably at the grim sight. Brilliant. Another gruesome scar to disfigure his skin, to bear prove of his true self. A reminder of why he could never be accepted. Remus tore his gaze away from the patchily healed fissure, and tugged some decent attire onto his person. His hair ruffled even more so; he ran a hand through to smooth it down, to no result. With a shrug, he made to get out of bed. His bare feet flinched at the chill of the stone flooring, and his chest ached ever more, but Remus put it behind him as the worries of classwork came crashing down. How much had he missed? Was he going to fall behind?

"I see you are insistent on getting up," Madam Pomfrey stated from where she'd left her office and walked into the wing itself. "Are you able to stand?"

Remus got slowly to his feet, tested his balance, and nodded. He ached, definitely, but at least the room wasn't spinning around. "Thank you for-" he started.

"Not at all, dear," she smiled. "It is my job to keep all the students well, after all." Her eyes twinkled as she beamed at him.

On his way to Gryffindor Tower, he managed to walk into none other than Professor McGonagall, the head of his house. He'd planned to talk to each professor at the end of each class about what he'd missed – but whilst she was here, he might as well ask about her lesson.

"Ah, Mr Lupin," she said, peering down at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Erm, good," he spluttered. He'd not expected that. She was usually rather stern in her classes. "I was thinking; I missed a couple of days and I probably need to-"

"You're worried about falling behind," she nodded. "Yes, Professor Dumbledore informed me of your concern. You really do not need to be so troubled. You have only missed one or two lessons of each class, have you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"You are an exceedingly bright student, Mr Lupin," she interrupted, "that much is already clear from your work and dedication. I doubt you'll have missed very much, and as to what you may _have_ missed, I have little doubt it will be covered again in future lessons. I'm sure your friends will be more than happy to talk over anything with you if you're still uncertain."

"But I don't-"

"Now is not the time to be wearing yourself out," she informed with a sharp nod. "I insist that you concentrate on simply getting to the classes that you can, and no more. If an issue arises, we will take care of it, but as of the moment, I think you are doing incredibly well." At that, Professor McGonagall smiled at him – _smiled_ , at _him_ – and continued down the corridor.

Remus felt slightly lightheaded as he made the rest of his way back to Gryffindor Tower. He mumbled the password and clambered through into the common room, sinking into one of the sofas near the fire.

"Remus?!"

A sudden rush of movement invaded Remus' ears and eyes: suddenly there were people circling around him and instinctively he panicked.

"Where on earth have you been, Remus," James squawked, bounding down on the sofa to sit beside him – Remus winced.

"We've been searching for you for days," Sirius proclaimed dramatically. "Weeks, even – months!"

"Well, not that much," James frowned. "But we looked _everywhere_ for you."

"For _me_?" Remus repeated, bewildered. "Whatever for?"

"No one had a clue as to where you were," Peter exclaimed.

"We had theories, of course, but we didn't know for certain," James explained in what he believed to be assurance. "Thought you'd been kidnapped-"

"Or eaten," Sirius added.

Remus spluttered. " _What_?"

"I know, I told him that idea was stupid," James nodded. "So where were you?"

Remus felt lost for words. He hadn't considered needing to invent an excuse so soon; he was unprepared for all this attention.

"Were you ill?" Peter asked.

"No!" Remus burst out. No – wait – being ill was the only feasible excuse he had. The denial had been instinctive; if they thought he was ill, then they'd ask more questions about him and it would even more difficult to explain. But what else could he say? "No," he repeated, this time a lot softer (his emotions and actions spiked into less control around the full moon, so he pressed his efforts into sounding as calm as he possibly could). "I'm not ill…" He faltered. What could he say; what would they believe? His mind was having to work far harder than he'd anticipated, the cogs of his brain whirring at full speed, to the point where Remus was sure they could _hear_ him thinking.

" _You're_ not ill," Sirius echoed, taking the statement into consideration. "Is someone else ill?"

 _That was it_. Remus felt like sighing with relief. That could be his excuse. "Yeah," he mumbled, thinking of the first person that came to his head. "My mum."

"Oh," James breathed. This had clearly taken a turn that he hadn't foreseen.

"I… I was allowed to visit her," Remus continued, elaborating the excuse further to add more reliable depth to it: he wanted them to believe him, after all. "She's really ill: Dumbledore said I could go back home to see her for a couple of days. That's where I was. I didn't say anything because, I didn't want to worry you." He didn't think they'd care for his absence, to be quite honest, but he kept that to himself.

"I'm sorry, Remus," Peter mumbled, patting Remus in a display of comfort and sympathy.

James took it a step further: he wrapped his arms around Remus and tugged him into a hug: Remus stifled a moan as his chest was practically crushed – luckily the sound was taken by the others as a gasp of surprise.

"He does that," Sirius said from somewhere outside of the hug. "A lot, apparently."

James pulled away, and ruffled Remus' hair. Remus bit back the desire to flinch away from the touch. He hated the imposing of proximity around the full moon; but here he could see James was doing his best to be sincere. To comfort Remus over a lie.

Remus' stomach churned with a sudden plunge of guilt. He'd just lied. Lied to three other people. He knew that this had been coming, but now… they seemed to miss his presence when he wasn't there, and wanted him to go around with them more often – to join them upon their escapades. That was an invitation for friendship, right? And here Remus was, lying to them – not only that but doing so for his own selfish need, in wanting to keep his place at this school. He suddenly felt incredibly nauseous.

"I think I'm going to go and lie down," he muttered, getting shakily to his feet.

The three nodded in agreement, giving him kind smiles and gentle pats on the shoulder (that he didn't deserve) as he escaped them and darted as quickly as he could to the dormitory.


	9. Chapter 9

Remus discovered that the three boys were not the only ones strangely worried about him. Lily beamed the moment she caught sight of him the next day, and dashed over to question him, which was how he found himself sat opposite her in the Great Hall that day, explaining about his mother being so ill. He realised that he'd have to stick by this lie now – if he made up various excuses for different people then it would inevitably go wrong at some point. Lily was, like the others had been, sympathetic, and she told him to keep her updated on his mother's welfare, making sure he knew that if needed someone to talk to, Lily was all ears. Remus was miffed by the gesture, to say the least: they'd only really known each other for about a month, and already she was looking out for him.

Which he gracefully returned with lies.

Remus had given himself a stern talking to the previous night, after running away from the clutches of James, Sirius and Peter. It was becoming a constant argument within his mind, forever switching back and forth – as of the moment, though, he had it under control. It only really got messy whenever it got to the point of the full moon, when Remus would feel awful and moody, and thus his thoughts spiralled down to guilt and anger and regret. Only as he returned to his normal self was he able to remind himself of the positive outlook: he was being given a chance. By Albus Dumbledore, no less. And if the Headmaster believed Remus deserved a place in Hogwarts, then he was going to do his best to prove the wizard right. It just meant that a tough time was ahead – which Remus expected, seeing as it was a given. So rather than let the guilt of his lying consume him as easily as it had done the previous evening, he instead recapped that the lie was necessary to keep him in the school.

"Peter was right," James muttered to Sirius through a mouthful of potatoes.

Sirius blanched at the spittle being thrown his way before responding. "About what?"

"Remus, being friends with red," he elaborated, swallowing down his food. He nodded over to where the pair were indeed talking rather amicably.

"I suppose if they like to… _study_ , then they have reason to get along," Sirius pointed out; he shuddered at the thought. Who in their right mind liked studying?

"Surely that makes us cooler, though," James sighed. "I mean, he should want to be our friend – it's not like he spends his time in the girls' dormitory, after all."

"We definitely need his brains on the team," Sirius agreed. "Did you see how quickly he managed to learn the wand-lighting charm the other day? It was as though he'd known it his whole life."

"It wasn't exactly that challenging, though," James countered.

Sirius snorted. "Says the one who almost poked himself in the eye."

James glared over at him. "And you fared far better, did you, by blinding yourself for a good twelve seconds?"

"Oh come on, it wasn't that long," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Seven, at the most."

"Ten," James whispered. He looked back to Remus. "How do we convince him to join us?"

"Maybe prank people less," quipped a third voice that made James and Sirius both spin around in surprise.

"Oh! Peter: hi," James exclaimed; quick to get over his shock. Peter seemed to pop up around him and Sirius more often than not, sometimes having been there the whole time without the two even realising.

"He doesn't like you both constantly pranking Snape," Peter continued softly, "but I think that's because Lily's really against it."

"So _that's_ her name," Sirius exhaled.

"But pranking Snivellus is funny," James disputed with a pout.

Peter chewed at his lip nervously. "Why do you target him so much," he asked, looking positively terrified in the likelihood that they would hex him for even daring to ask.

"Perhaps we should invite Remus on one of our night time strolls," Sirius suggested, not having even heard Peter's question.

"He didn't appear too happy about the idea back when we first came up with it," James said thoughtfully. He fell quiet to think, and eventually shrugged. "I suppose we could give it another shot."

"Exactly!" Sirius nodded. "In the end, he'll have to agree simply to stop us asking. It's a perfect plan."

-oooO0Oooo-

The dormitory emanated chatter as Remus opened the door and stepped in – for the room to fall silent instantly at his presence. He froze on the spot, half expecting to find himself attacked by some new prank. Instead, James said brightly, "Remus!"

Remus was – needless to say – immediately suspicious.

"How are you," Sirius added, as Remus warily padded into the room, his eyes scanning the room for anything that looked out of place.

He faltered at the question. "Good…?" he answered slowly, narrowing his gaze over at Sirius.

"Wonderful," James nodded. He paused for a considerable moment, as though trying to find a topic to converse about. "So, are you keeping on top of your homework?"

"Yes," Remus said, moving to sit at the edge of his bed, still eyeing the pair of them warily.

"Brilliant," Sirius enthused, clapping his hands together. "So you're not up to anything this evening?"

"No?"

"Come along then," James said. He jumped to his feet, and wafted the invisibility cloak in front of him, as though waving away any dust that may have laid across the cloak during its short lack of use.

The penny dropped for Remus. He watched as Sirius too got up from where he was sat and grabbed a handful of the cloak; the pair raised it up for Remus to slip under with them.

"Um… no, thanks," Remus mumbled, pushing himself further back on his bed.

Sirius whined. "Why not?"

 _I don't want to get into trouble_ , Remus thought to himself. He glanced to the small chest of drawers beside his bed, on which rested a pile of books. He picked up the topmost one (his current read) and showed it to the other two from where they sat. "Reading," he explained.

James tilted his head curiously. "Do you read a lot?"

Remus nodded. He had assumed that over the past month they'd noticed that he'd had his nose in a book more often than not; going by the surprise on both their faces, however, it appeared that Remus was so enveloped by his reading that he disappeared as easily as if he'd been sat under the invisibility cloak. Remus delved right into his book, now that the two were distracted with their surprise. He thumbed through the pages until he found where he'd left off, and started reading.

James and Sirius shrugged in their defeat.

"Ah, it doesn't matter," played off Sirius, sitting back down on James' bed. "We're were going to plan on more pranking ideas for Snivellus, anyway."

Remus' brow knitted, but that was the only indication that he'd heard what they were saying. What James and Sirius didn't realise was that as they talked, Remus listened. He couldn't exactly find an answer as to why he chose to listen to their scheming, yet he found his eyes no longer skimmed across the words in front of him, and instead he stared unfocused upon the page whilst he paid attention to the boys sat across the room.

"We haven't really done anything exceptionally big yet," James started. "But I suppose the more stuff we learn, the better the pranking opportunities are."

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "Besides, tripping him up is quickly becoming a classic."

James grinned. "First thing we attempted, after all," he said. His smile dropped somewhat. "Although, it's not working as well as it did."

"No – it's like he's expecting it to happen," Sirius agreed thoughtfully.

Remus frowned. The two were really missing the obvious here. "That's because you've done it enough times for him to expect it."

He didn't quite realise that he'd voiced his thoughts until he noticed that James and Sirius had swung their heads towards him in shock. Their staring was almost expectant, so Remus continued in a mumble, "After the first couple of times, he knows what's coming – he's watching out for you more, to avoid any tripping up from happening."

James and Sirius blinked unabashedly at him. "Right," James said, nodding slowly. "Um – so – you're saying we should be more creative on how we trip him up?"

"Well I…" he was more towards the thought of not tripping Severus up at all, but it seemed that what Remus had just said was enough for them to hear.

James spun excitedly towards Sirius. "Perhaps we should learn how to create some form of invisible barrier along the floor that would trip Snivellus up from far away."

"But we haven't learnt anything that can do that," Remus countered. His book slipped away from his hands and he found himself shifting forward along his bed, to sit at the edge. He legs swung over, his feet hovering above the floor, and his knees bounced as he realised he'd pulled himself into a conversation concerning pranks, with two people who seemed to want him as his friend. That was enough to send his nerves spiralling.

"We have the invisibility cloak though," Sirius exclaimed. "If we put something on the floor, and cover it with the cloak – that could work!"

"No, it wouldn't," Remus said, "because you'd have to know exactly where Severus would walk, and if he did trip over, he might get tangled with the cloak, which means you might have it confiscated."

James thought this through. "You're good at this," he commented to Remus.

Remus was caught between feeling guilty and elated. "I'm only saying where it could go wrong," he mumbled, biting back a small smile.

Sirius hopped up from where he was and bounded over to collapse beside Remus. "What do you think we should do then?"

Remus faltered. "Well I don't think you should do anyth-"

"Yeah, Remus," James interrupted. He too came to sit the other side of Remus. "What should our next prank be?"

Remus swallowed nervously. "Don't you think you two are being a little too fixated on annoying only Severus," he pointed out, glancing between them.

"Only because he's the funniest to annoy," Sirius said.

"We're not trying to be mean, we just think that it's amusing to rile up a Slytherin," James added. "Besides, he wasn't exactly friendly to us, either, when we first met him."

"What _did_ happen, then," Remus asked, who had to admit was curious at how they had come to know Severus and Lily even before him.

James and Sirius grinned at each other. "Okay, so we were there, sat in the compartment on the train," Sirius began. "We'd introduced ourselves to each other," he gestured between himself and James, "and we didn't really notice the other two walk in, 'cause we were talking."

"When suddenly Snivellus proclaims for red to – erm, wait, what's her name again?" James questioned.

"Lily."

"Right, yeah, her: he says that she should be in Slytherin. Slytherin!"

"Of course, James finds this outrageous," Sirius said with a sideward glance to James, who was mouthing the house name to himself repeatedly with a grimace. "And says so."

"Who _would_ want to be in Slytherin," James shuddered. "Then we ignore them, because you don't willingly just converse with someone who moments ago wishes to be at one with the snakes."

"And James begins to prattle on about Gryffindor," Sirius says quickly, his eyes flickering momentarily to James. Remus couldn't help but feel they'd skipped a part of the conversation. "Which makes Snivellus laugh."

"The utter cheek of him," James sighed.

"Of course, then we just have to joke around with Snivellus, and by the end of it he gets uptight about the whole thing, and then – Lily, was it? – she stands up and decides that she's had enough, and takes Snivellus with him."

"Which was where the first tripping up was attempted," James nodded in reminiscence.

"And that's the only reason you decided to wage a pranking war upon him," Remus said finally.

Sirius and James looked to each other in a way that immediately suggested to Remus that no, that was not the only reason behind their antics. But whatever this mysterious reason was, he was not to know, because they soon nodded at him.

"Pretty much," James said.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. He gave a thankful glance to James, who seemed to expect this coming and just gave an imperceptible nod in response.

Sirius didn't want tons of other people to know about his family affairs; having James know helped, because he needed at least someone to understand. But he wasn't going to parade about getting a Howler from his mother – he felt it unworthy of mentioning, and didn't like to be reminded of it, so the less people who knew, the better. Snape of course _had_ to be the one who had found out about it first, and using it to taunt Sirius had berated him. It was after that, when they'd realised that what Snape had spouted was true, when James and Sirius decided that they would get back at Snivellus. He was grateful that James seemed to acknowledge that Sirius didn't yet feel overly comfortable with spreading this particular story to others. Which was why, for now, they would keep this to themselves, and not tell Remus.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope everyone's all faring well!**

 **Just wanted to note that I will be starting college in a couple of days (scary, I know), so my updates may not be as quick as I'd like them to be; so I apologise in advance if I take longer to post chapters. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to put this story on hold, certainly not - I need _something_ to help me get through the upcoming work and stress, after all.**

 **Reviews are as always wonderful to receive :)**


	10. Chapter 10

"Remus! Hey, Remus; over here."

"Come _here_ , Remus."

The moment Remus shuffled into the Transfiguration classroom, he could hear the insistent whispers of James and Sirius. He glanced nervously over to them: they were waving him over. He looked to his own seat (over by the front of the class), and back to where they were stood near their own seats at the back. He sheepishly slipped through the crowd of other students and stumbled towards James and Sirius. "What?" he asked quietly.

"Sit with us," James invited with a grin.

"But-"

"Come on," Sirius encouraged.

Remus swallowed, looking back to his actual seat. Professor McGonagall stood at the very front of the class, waiting expectantly for everyone to settle down. She caught sight of James and Sirius muttering, and her brow furrowed – she then caught sight of a flustered Remus, and realised that the two were talking to the boy. "Could everyone please be seated," she instructed, watching as James and Sirius tugged at Remus' arm to sit down with them. Professor McGonagall was quick to infer that Remus looked as though he wanted to sit with the pair, but was worried about doing so. Perhaps he just needed a little push to realise that those two genuinely wanted his friendship. She brought up her wand, and wordlessly drew up a chair at the back of the class, beside the two that James and Sirius usually sat in. She peered over her glasses with pursed lips, seeing James and Sirius spin around in surprise and glee; Remus looked so shocked that he let the other two drag him to the third chair without a word, as he blinked owlishly over at Professor McGonagall.

After that, James and Sirius were convincing Remus to sit with them in every class they had. The professors weren't as obvious as Professor McGonagall had been, but they did not question the change in seating plan – some, namely Professor Binns, didn't even notice.

Remus found that he learnt quite a bit more about James and Sirius, from sitting with them so often. They were both talented when it came to classes, though because of their gift in picking things up quickly, they spent the majority of their lessons either chatting or messing about. They included Remus in quite a lot of their conversations, seeing as Remus was also surprisingly adept in class, though most of the time James managed to centre it on Quidditch. They also attempted to lure Remus into helping with their messing around, which of course Remus was less inclined to offer a hand in.

James was a lively spirit. He certainly talked the most: his words were practically a non-stop gush from his mouth. He also had no control of his limbs whatsoever – his hands were either twiddling around a quill, or running through his hair, or pushing his glasses further up his nose, or throwing playful punches to both Sirius and at times even Remus. He could barely contain his positive energy, and enjoyed running to classes (particularly to aggravate the teachers, as well as to bet with Sirius as to how many people he could manage to knock over amidst his rush). His uniform was constantly untidy, whether that be that his tie was crooked, his sleeves were stained with ink or his shirt stuck out from under his jumper. His favourite lesson was Transfiguration, Remus soon worked out, as James had a marvellous skill for the subject.

Sirius was a little more subdued than James, but Remus doubted that anyone who wasn't around them as much as Remus noticed this. He kept his hands to himself, only really breaking this rule to attack James back or drag Remus over to sit with them. He did also, like James, love to play with his hair, but rather than ruffling it up to make all the ends stick up in a static chaos (as James did – whether this was intentional Remus had yet to work out), he preferred to sift his hands through to keep it in check. His hair was much longer than any other boy's Remus had known, after all: Remus himself found Sirius' hair a most curious thing, and often wondered why Sirius liked it so long. Sirius did like to chatter, and he could be incredibly noisy when he wanted to be, but at times he would fall quiet and have an expression of something Remus could only label as _nervous_. He couldn't fathom as to why this was, but a part of him reckoned that James knew of it.

James and Sirius were, in some ways, like twins. They shared a great sense of pride in themselves, and loved to cause chaos. When they grinned, the mischievous glint in their eyes was almost identical. They talked to one another as though they'd known each other all of their lives, and communicated so easily between one another that Remus was sure they could read each other's minds.

But they also had their differences – like they were two sides of a coin. For one thing, James loved to talk about his family. The adoration he held for his parents was evident, and he relished in talking about the wonders of the Potter household, whether that be of his mother's wonderful baking or his father's jesting manner. Sirius was quite the opposite in that Remus had not heard him speak about his family once – except for the occasional mention of his younger brother, Regulus. He mentioned briefly of the bond he had, in how there were often fights between them but they admittedly enjoyed one another's company. Another thing was how open they were: James told the world his entire life story, it seemed at times, whereas Sirius kept secrets. Remus knew this from personal experience; he recognised the look of one who had things they were unwilling to share.

The more Remus was hauled to sit with them, the more he discovered about them, and the more he found himself liking the pair. He may not agree with their incessant desire to prank, and to annoy Snape, and he may not enjoy the amount of times Remus had to struggle with focusing in a lesson because of the constant muttering going back and forth over his head. But he liked them.

What surprised him the most was that they liked him back. Remus couldn't ignore this anymore: they definitely liked him – the question was why. He didn't understand that they admired his dedication to classwork, or that they found his nervousness sweet, or that they felt the need to protect this sandy haired boy at all costs. He didn't notice the way the two would walk and sit either side of him, so as to make him feel included, and he didn't pick up on the way they would fully focus on him whenever he talked, to show that they were listening. He did however notice the giggles they stifled whenever he managed to make a small joke, and the light punches on the arm and pats on the shoulder he found himself receiving often. He noticed the broad grins he'd seen them share to each other begin to be sent his way too, and he heard the conversations being directed towards him because they wanted to hear his opinion.

Of course, this didn't mean Remus' life now revolved around James and Sirius, much as the pair wanted to think so. He still put all his effort in his work, and liked to chat with Peter – this would normally happen in History of Magic, because James and Sirius would often have the nerve to actually fall asleep during the class, and Peter needed help in deciphering Professor Binns' drone. Remus also insisted to James and Sirius that he still spend time with Lily. She was his first friend, after all – and the two boys were more than reluctant in wanting to spend _their_ free time studying.

-oooO0Oooo-

Sirius hopped – quite literally – down the sloping hills of the Hogwarts grounds, stomping on gathered clumps of withered leaves with his boots. His hands balled into fists, clinging to the warmth of the knitted material of his gloves. His hair whipped across his face at every jump, strands getting caught in his mouth and eyelashes as the chilled breeze tugged at the ends. Sirius ran a hand through his hair and smoothed it out of his face – only for the same thing to happen barely moments later.

He looked behind him, to see James echoing the meandering path that Sirius had taken, trampling on the already flattened leaves. He had to stop at every other jump to push his glasses firmly up his nose, but still grinned broadly. Sirius peered further still, to see where Remus was following after them, trailing in their footsteps.

The three of them must've looked a sight: particularly as their utter differences in attire stood out so boldly. There was Sirius taking lead with his expensive black winter cloak, silver buttons gleaming; his thick gloves; and his large black boots. Then there was James, in all his Gryffindor pride: he wore a red hoodie; a red and gold Gryffindor scarf wrapped around his neck, flapping in the wind; jeans and boots. Finally there was Remus. Sirius had never been so stunned in his life when he saw Remus out of uniform. Remus had on an oversized jumper, the sleeves engulfing his hands and the waistline falling close to his knees. His trousers, on the other hand, looked perhaps a size too small, in how they left his ankles bare to face the bitter chill of the wind. His trainers were blue and incredibly worn, and squashed down on his head of sandy hair was a bright purple beanie.

Sirius giggled, and subsequently misplaced his footing and landed flat on his face. A burst of laughter cackled from behind, and Sirius rolled onto his stomach, lifting his head towards James. The spectacled boy clutched at his chest and laughed blatantly at Sirius in his crumpled heap amongst the brown, aged leaves. Sirius pushed himself up and darted over to James: he ran straight into him and tackled him to the floor. He heard more laughter, this time much lighter and quieter than James' bellowing, and stifled behind a jumper-clad hand. Sirius grinned up at Remus, who was biting back a smile.

James shoved Sirius off him and got to his feet, dusting himself off. "Hey, look at that," he exclaimed, midway through the brushing off of invisible debris from his hoodie. He nodded ahead of him; Sirius (still on the floor) and Remus followed his gaze and saw a large, wooden hut sat upon the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"What, the hut that's been on the grounds the whole time we've been here," Sirius snorted. "Not exactly something new, is it?"

"No, but there's a pumpkin patch next to it," James explained. "That's definitely recent."

Sirius stumbled to his feet. "Let's go take a look, then," he said, and immediately began striding on in that direction. James was quick to follow, but Remus faltered, eyeing the gloomy forest with caution.

"Don't you think we straying a little too close to the forest? That's _forbidden_?" he called after the pair. They didn't seem to hear him; Remus caught up after them, his fingers curling nervously into the soft material of his jumper's sleeves. "And we don't know whose hut that is," he added.

Nevertheless, Sirius and James steamed on ahead, soon reaching the large pumpkin patch.

"Wow, these are enormous," James exclaimed.

He wasn't wrong. As Remus padded behind them, he could see the bulging orange boulders playing host to the soil beneath them. Some were as big as _him_.

"Hey James," Sirius said excitedly. "We could use these for a prank!"

"Yeh'll do no such thing," came a booming voice that made all three of them jump out of their skins. They spun around to be faced with a giant of a man, who Remus was quick to remember as the one who'd taken them from the Hogwarts train to the school, by means of the boats.

"Are these your pumpkins," James piped up; he was quick to get over his surprise.

"Well, I grew 'em, if that's what yeh mean," the giant replied through his bushy beard. "But they gotta be taken up ter the school later on," he continued. "Ter decorate the Hall and for the Feast, yeh know. Halloween night an' all." The three nodded politely. The giant stood eyeing the pumpkins proudly for a moment, before returning his attention to the three first years. "What're you lot doin' so far from the castle, then?"

"Exploring the grounds," Sirius responded grandly. "We don't have any lessons today, and we thought we should spend our free time investigating the outdoors."

"Jus' make sure yeh don' get too close ter the Forbidden Forest, alrigh'," the giant warned good-naturedly. "It's a dangerous place – an' not just at night time, mind."

James and Sirius shared a glance that Remus had been quick to learn was not a good glance, by any means. It was often used when they discovered an opportunity for pranks or 'adventures' (as they liked to call their antics under the invisibility cloak out of curfew). Remus was learning to fear that look.

Remus turned back to the giant, and out of a sudden burst of curiosity, asked, "What's your name, Professor?"

"Oh, I'm no Professor," the giant chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "Jus' the Keeper of Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts. And the name's Hagrid."

"That sounds like an important job," James said, awed.

Sirius nodded in agreement. "What do you do then, Hagrid?"

"Well, I gotta grow the pumpkins fer the Halloween feast, to start," he said, with a nod to the squash plants in front of them. "I do various jobs fer Professors and the Headmaster, Dumbledore. Great man, he is. Gave me this place," Hagrid pointed over to the hut.

"That's your house?" James exclaimed brightly – without waiting for an answer, he rushed over to the hut, peering in through the windows. "Cool!"

"Let's have a look inside," Sirius declared, running over to stand beside James.

Remus' eyes widened, and he glanced towards the house owner. "Um… Mr Hagrid, is it alright for them to…?" His sentence dissipated; the two boys had already darted up the steps to the door and were tugging at the handle.

Hagrid – much to Remus' relief – only seemed amused by their enthusiasm, and strode over to open the door for them. James and Sirius scrambled in as Hagrid said, "S'pose you're alrigh' ter have a look." The giant of a man turned back to Remus, whose jaw had dropped at the boys' outgoing behaviour. "Yeh comin' in too, lad?"

Remus spluttered. "Me?" He cautiously crossed over to the door of which Hagrid loomed beside; he was quick to remember his manners. "Oh, by the way Mr Hagrid, my name's Remus," he said politely, sticking out a hand.

Hagrid's brow bristled upwards as he peered down at Remus, his eyes twinkling. "Ah, Remus Lupin," he nodded. "Dumbledore tol' me about yeh. Terrible thing that happened ter yeh, an' all." He grasped Remus' outstretched hand and shook it: Remus was lucky to have his arm in one piece afterwards.

"Hey Remus, what's taking you so long?" James' voice echoed through the hut and blasted out the doorway. Remus smiled at Hagrid, who returned the gesture, and headed inside.

Upon entry, Remus' legs were smothered by an overenthusiastic dog, slobber drooling onto his trainers. The dog had dark fur and wide, round eyes: the dog faltered and started sniffing curiously at Remus, before obediently sitting down at his feet, emitting a soft whine.

"Wow Remus, how did you do that," Sirius breathed from across the room.

Remus craned his neck down, tilting his head questioningly at the dog. He had a theory that it was somehow linked to his inner wolf: perhaps dogs could sense that? Remus bent down and patted the dog on the head, and smiled as the dog continued to sit there patiently. He looked to be a young dog, barely gone from being a pup, his height just at Remus' knees.

"Tha's Fang," Hagrid introduced from behind Remus. "Very eager when visitors come over; yeh've managed ter calm 'im down, though," he added, winking at Remus, which seemed to confirm his theory.

Remus gave Fang a final pat, before manoeuvring around him and wandering around the hut. It was a crowded place, with a low ceiling and large furniture leaving little space to really move very far. The room was lit from the light seeping through the windows, and as Remus edged his way around, he saw another door, which he supposed was the back exit of the house. There was a fireplace of sorts, of which there hung a cauldron above where the glowing fire crackled. James was peering into this cauldron, whilst Sirius whirled past Remus to go back over to Fang – immediately Fang started barking and woofing appreciatively, jumping up in an attempt to knock Sirius down. When Sirius tried to pet him, he almost got swiped in the face with wild paws, to which he yelped and retreated back to safety. James laughed at Sirius' failed efforts: Sirius scrambled over to playfully punch his shoulder.

"How come Dumbledore lets you live here, Hagrid," James piped up amidst trying to dodge Sirius.

"Didn't have anywhere else ter go," Hagrid informed with a sigh. "Besides, I'm needed quite a lot ter help out aroun' the school anyways…"

"You have a very nice house, Mr Hagrid," Remus commented. He did indeed like the cosy nature of the abode; he felt welcome and comfortable, even if it was a little cramped in places. Hagrid beamed proudly.

"Yeah, it's really cool," James supplied with a sharp nod. "Thanks for letting us look around."

"Yeh're welcome any time," Hagrid informed the three, looking pleased at the opportunity for company. "And don' worry about Fang, either," he said, as Sirius warily tried to slip around Fang without being bowled over, "He'll get used to yeh."

James, Sirius and Remus returned to the doorway; the former two struggled to extricate themselves from an excited flurry of paws and drool, whilst Remus was able to easily scoot around Fang. They bid Hagrid goodbye, and found themselves back outdoors in the bitter wind, which suddenly felt far colder than it had before.

"Do you reckon we should head back up to the castle, in time for the feast," James suggested, snuggling further into the realms of his hoodie and pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Sirius nodded; the pair turned to Remus and awaited his nod of approval before they set off across the grounds.

-oooO0Oooo-

The Great Hall was booming with colour in light of the festivity that evening. Candles as always floated above their heads, with the addition of grand orange and black banners streaming along the walls. There were plenty of sweets brimming in glass bowls along all five tables, as well as many pumpkin-related delicacies. There were also pumpkins as decoration for the entrance, glowing a multitude of various colours with expressions that changed every so often.

Remus was happily eating a slice of pumpkin pie on his plate, James and Sirius sat opposite him and Peter sitting beside him.

"See, look at that," James tutted to Sirius, stabbing his fork in the direction of the large glowing pumpkins at the front of the Hall. "They could have been a part of a wondrous prank, and instead they're being used as lamps. What a waste."

"But now that we know what they're used for, we could create a prank involving them somehow next year," Sirius pointed out.

James grinned. "Why wait until next year?" This sentence, Remus knew, did not bode at all well. His chewing slowed as he watched James drop his fork onto his plate with a clatter – the noise didn't make much of a dent in the gracious cacophony already echoing throughout the Hall. James retrieved his wand, aiming it towards the pumpkins.

"What are you thinking of doing," Sirius murmured eagerly.

"Something original," James replied.

"Does it involve Snivellus?"

"Obviously."

Remus hastily swallowed his mouthful of pie. "That's probably not a good idea," he warned.

"Why not," James pouted.

"Because… because, it'll be obvious that it was you," Remus said, thinking quickly for reasons that James wouldn't shrug off as easily as he was doing now in response. "And – you might not be able to aim well from all the way over here." James thus started to get up to his feet, so Remus desperately added, "and there are already lots of charms on the pumpkins!"

James faltered; Remus sighed inwardly in relief. "What'll that do," James asked warily.

"Well, charming something that's already charmed is not always safe, because the charms may not respond well with each other. And a first year's 'Wingardium Leviosa' isn't going to stand much of a chance against a professor's magic."

James wore a calculating look; finally, he sat back down and pocketed his wand. Sirius patted his back sadly and said, "Another time, perhaps."

"How did you know what I was going to do," James asked Remus whilst picking his fork back up to return to his food.

"I guessed," Remus replied. "What else would you have done?"

Sirius nodded in agreement. "See, this is why we need you on our team," he explained.

Remus blinked. "Team?"

"Yeah," James jumped in, a grin once more back on his face. "We're a team. You need to help us with pranking though, to officially be at one with us two. With your brains, we could be unstoppable pranksters!"

Remus tried to bite back a smile, but he couldn't help it. He was part of a team. They considered him as a part of _their_ team. He rewarded himself with an extra slice of that pumpkin pie, in celebration at having done so well thus far in being considered as a normal – even likeable – student by others. (Well, it may have also been because the pumpkin pie was just really, really tasty).

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the wait for this chapter! I've just started college, and it was chaotic to say the least. Getting back into the swing of things has tired me out no end. New building, new classes, new people... scary stuff. But anyway, I managed to get this chapter finished for you guys, so I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Peter thought that James and Sirius were brilliant. They scared him at times; made him feel incredibly anxious whenever they plotted potential pranks for the future, or when they discussed their night outings, or when they were loud (which seemed to be happening more often than not). But despite being mildly fearful, he was also swept up in admiration. He admired their confidence; in particular the confidence James so revelled in himself.

It wasn't that Peter tagged after them practically every day… well, no, that was _exactly_ what he did – but he couldn't help it. It just so happened that he was around them as often as he was (what with the same house, same dorm, and same classes) and Peter used it to his advantage to bask in their brilliance at every opportunity. Occasionally, he even managed to summon the courage to converse with the pair, which in itself was a difficult task. James and Sirius had bonded so well with each other that it was hard to get a word in edgeways; sometimes (often) they didn't even realise that Peter was stood with them. They were, however, more observant if the third member of their party was Remus, which Peter found curious. What did they find so compelling about the sandy haired boy, that they were able to disable their double act? Remus was quiet, like Peter, and incredibly studious, yet he had somehow managed to become their friend. Peter desperately wanted to know what the trick was behind gaining their attention, but was too embarrassed to ask.

"Imagine what his face would have looked like," James exclaimed eagerly, from where he was sat on the bench of Gryffindor table, whilst he shovelled porridge into his mouth.

"It would have been beautiful," Sirius agreed. "Had we have gone through with it."

"Alas, Remus stepped in with his brains and knowledge," James concluded sadly.

Peter had taken the space next to James this morning at breakfast, and had been listening in to their conversation. From the snippets he'd gathered, they were reminiscing over what _could_ have occurred at the Halloween feast a couple of nights prior. At the mention of Remus, Peter had glanced around to see what the boy would reply in answer – to realise he was absent from the table. This wasn't entirely out of the ordinary: sometimes Remus would opt to sit by himself, and he would also occasionally sit over with Lily. But as Peter peered down the table, it became clear that Remus was not in the Great Hall whatsoever. Which was very odd. Peter may not know the boy much, but he'd been quick to learn that Remus always got up, however groggy he felt, for his eagerness for classes overtook him. He hadn't been late down to breakfast before. He definitely had never been late to a lesson. Peter chewed thoughtfully on his buttered toast; there was a chance that the boy had woken up early, and was off somewhere around the castle (Remus liked to wander – within curfew, of course). He nodded assuredly to himself that he must be right, and turned his attention back to that of James and Sirius, who had – in that time – progressed to the topic of Quidditch.

OooOOOoooOOOooo

"I was thinking… ink pots."

"Ink pots?"

"Yeah." Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "Lift them up and then…" he gestured a grand spillage with his hands.

"Just like that?" James grinned. "I like it. Simple but effective. Always a wondrous combination."

Sirius shrugged dismissively, as though this had been the intention all along. "You don't happen to have any on you, do you?"

"Hmm…" James rummaged through his bag, his dark locks of unruly hair ever-ruffled. He emerged quickly from the bag, and held aloft two large pots of ink, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Brilliant – okay," Sirius started, grabbing one such pot.

The two had been strolling through the castle, originally in search for Gryffindor Tower. On their way, however, they'd caught sight of a distinctive slouching figure, and thus had since tailed the Slytherin (who was, of course, Snape) along the sweeping staircases and winding corridors.

Throughout the day, the topic of conversation was predominantly set on pranking. Peter hadn't been bothering them so much today (sometimes he tried to join in with their daring, but the boy didn't quite cut it for them in that area of expertise), having been seemingly distracted; James and Sirius had also been concerned as to the whereabouts of Remus. It was only at lunchtime when James jolted up from the bench, upsetting Peter's cup of pumpkin juice along the way, to proclaim of Remus' mother. ("He disappeared before, remember? He was allowed to visit her!") They'd grown solemn for a moment, mindful of how awful Remus had looked around the time of his disappearance before, and how over the past couple of days he'd also been rather worn and tired. However, James' restlessness couldn't be pegged down for long, and he was quick to bring up ideas on how to prank Snape. It had been a while, after all – and James was still mildly sore at what he believed to have been "a missed opportunity" at the Halloween feast. Needless to say, the Slytherin's afternoon had been far from enjoyable. Unfortunately for him, now that evening had settled, he (wrongly) assumed he was safe from their antics for the rest of the night.

"Ready?" James muttered to Sirius, glancing at him before turning back to where the ink pots hovered in front of them.

Rather than answer, Sirius gave an encouraging upward flick with his wand to ease the ink pot higher into the air: the other one was quick to follow at James' command, and together they watched as the two ink pots sailed through the air, much to the surprise of the dozens of portraits that they whizzed past. Further and further they flew, until they slowed to a quiet stop just above the head of the retreating Slytherin down at the other end of the corridor.

"Okay, we'll do it at the same time," Sirius whispered. "Three… two… one…"

A distant howl made them both freeze. Eyes wide and hearts pounding, they looked to each other.

"Did you hear that?" James breathed; Sirius nodded.

"What do you think it was?"

"No idea," James said. "Oh – quick – Snivellus had stopped." He gestured towards the Slytherin who had indeed faltered in his own tracks, probably having heard the howling as well.

The two made to tip the ink pots, when a second howl came wailing from a great distance. Snivellus, up ahead, bolted before James or Sirius had chance to drown him in ink; the pair scarpered as well, abandoning the two floating ink pots.

"Do you think it's something in the castle?" Sirius panted as they ran.

"Nah, can't be – it sounds too far away," James gasped. "Perhaps it's somewhere in Hogsmeade."

"D'you reckon it's dangerous?"

James grinned. "Sounds like it, right? Definitely got a lot of lung power, anyway."

A third howl rippled through the corridors. "You can say that again," Sirius huffed.

OooOOOoooOOOooo

It wasn't until the following evening that Remus returned, bags under his eyes and limbs appearing weighted; his sandy hair didn't quite have its usual bounce and his complexion was paler than normal. He slipped into the dormitory, hoping not to be noticed – unfortunately for him, all three of the other first year Gryffindors already occupied the room. Peter was sat on his bed in his pyjamas, reading a book; James and Sirius were talking animatedly to each other where they sat cross-legged in the centre of the dorm. At the creak of the opening door, all three heads swivelled upwards, for three pairs of eyes to fall upon the rumpled form of Remus as he shuffled in.

"Remus!" James cried, jumping up to his feet. He darted over to the boy and wrapped him in a tight hug; Remus winced.

"You got to visit your mum again, right," Sirius asked from behind. Remus almost appeared guilty for a moment, but the expression cleared, and he gave an indiscernible nod.

"How is she?" James queried, pulling away from Remus. The boy swallowed nervously and looked down to the floor. It was as if he preferred to analyse his shoes rather than answer the question. James exhaled deeply at the silence: he patted Remus' shoulder (to receive another wince) and assured, "Don't worry, she'll get better."  
Remus tilted his head back up, and managed a wobbly smile.

Sirius thought the boy was in need of cheering up. "Hey, you'll never guess what you missed yesterday, Remus," he started, stepping over beside James.

Remus' shoulders sagged in worry. "It wasn't homework, was it?"

"No," James laughed. "No; we were pranking Snivellus – or, at least we were about to."

"We got distracted," Sirius input.

Remus frowned. "Distracted?" he repeated.

James and Sirius gave each other a sideward glance of excitement. "Howling," James announced.

If anything, Remus seemed to pale more so at the word, which hadn't been Sirius' plan at all. The boy drew in a shaky breath, and whispered, " _Howling_?" Sirius almost didn't catch Remus speak.

"Yeah," James beamed. "We think there's a poltergeist or something lurking over at Hogsmeade."

Remus stiffened. "Why would there be anything like that at Hogsmeade?"

"Well, _something_ had to have made that noise," Sirius reasoned. "Besides, it was too quiet to have been within the castle itself."

"It was pretty awesome, though," James added, though this didn't lighten Remus' spirits at all. Rather, the boy mumbled something unintelligible and shuffled over to his own bed, drawing the curtains shut.

James and Sirius shared a quizzical look for a moment. Finally, Sirius whispered, "You don't think he's scared of whatever made the howling, do you?"

James mulled it over. "Perhaps he's just worn out after visiting his mother," he suggested quietly. "That must be difficult for him." James cast an anxious look towards Remus' bed. "I hope he's alright soon."

Sirius nodded. "Me too."

* * *

 **A/N: SORRY! Sorry this chapter took so long, and sorry that it's so short. :(**

 **Thanks for all your wonderful support guys! Lots of hugs and kisses of love to all the guest reviews that are posted (I can't reply to them directly aha) - you readers are awesome xxx**

 **I hope everyone's getting used to the routine of school/college/university/work/life: I'm sure you're all doing great! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

The usual cluttering commenced as the students piled into the classroom, filing into their seats as conversations simmered down naturally and books were sifted out of bags. The windows were dark with the harshness of November now truly under way; enchanted candles kept the room bright as everyone settled down. Two of these students had yet to drop into their seats. A third student glanced nervously between the former two. A fourth sat with his shoulders hunched up at the front of the class, the feather of his quill tapping against the wood of his desk as he mentally registered two pairs of eyes that were boring into the back of his head from the other side of the classroom.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, if you would take your seats," came the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall as she strode through the desks to reach the front of the class.

James huffed, dragging the legs of the chair as he took his space; Sirius followed with equal vigour, and Peter sighed in relief at the lack of a fuss.

Remus swallowed as he heard the pair sit down without a single comment to go against the Professor. His shoulders eased in tension somewhat: he'd expected more of an outburst (especially from James), knowing their love of the spotlight even after only having known them for a couple of months. He didn't want to cause a fuss. He wanted to learn. He wanted to be educated. He wanted to take the opportunity that was being so generously handed to him.

What he didn't want was to be feeling guilty about it. He didn't want to have broken away from the friendship that had been extended his way. But now he was scared. He was scared because they had heard – they had, _heard_ , him. Howling. They had heard him howling. And they didn't realise and he couldn't tell them and they thought he was off visiting his mother and he'd never really had to lie to anyone before but he was finding it the most difficult task he'd ever had to go through. But it was necessary, which was why Remus was torn. He had choices; he'd never had the prospect of choices before, so last night he'd spent a good deal of his time behind his curtains analysing these choices.

He could stay at Hogwarts. That was the best choice. He was here already after all. For how long, he wasn't to truly know, but he hoped for as long as possible. For as long as they could contain him. For as long as they wanted him. Taking this choice was the only chance for future opportunity.

But this lead to more choices. Were friends an option? His mother had assured him that he would find friends, that he should have friends. Dumbledore heartily agreed with her. But friends involved lying, and – as Remus had so recently discovered – lying was hard. Lying was complicated and deceitful and dangerous and wrong. That was what all the books he liked to read told him. Only the villains lied. Only the monsters lied. Which was funny, because that was what he was. A monster.

He liked James, and Sirius, and Lily, and Peter – truly, he did – but this new experience of liking other people his age came with the want to be honest. He was an honest boy, after all. He didn't want to be their friends if it meant he had to lie to them. The way they took his lie so easily, not because it was a sound lie, but because they trusted him… that had been the moment to spring the bouts of guilt. The guilt that was eating away at him, slowly.

So his choice, then.

He had sat at the front of the class today, in his original seat (before James and Sirius had convinced him to join them at the back). He had walked straight to the front, settled down before everyone else and gotten out his things. He knew that the other three would trundle in last, so he'd had time. He'd had a few precious moments to have gotten up. To change his mind. But, although he was one of an indecisive mind, he'd stayed put; and they'd walked in to see the back of his head over by the front of the room.

"What in Merlin's name is up with Remus," James muttered to Sirius as the lesson began. "He's been acting all… spooked."

"I still think it's because he's scared about the howling we mentioned about," Sirius shrugged.

James screwed up his face in what was clearly disagreement. "I'm pretty sure he's just worried about his mother, what with her being so ill."

"Then why would he be 'spooked'?"

"I don't know," James exclaimed, "but it's the only way I can describe it. Him."

"And anyway," Sirius continued over James, either oblivious or ignorant, "that doesn't explain why he's been acting so weird around us all morning. Either of our theories, I mean. It doesn't explain why he's being so distant."

"That's the word! Distant; yeah," James nodded. He faltered at the lull of quiet of which he'd only just noticed blanket the room; he glanced up to meet the disapproval furrow along the face of an unimpressed Professor McGonagall. He cleared his throat, ducked his head back down and lowered his voice, leaning closer to Sirius so that they could continue conversing. "So let's run through this morning, shall we?" He splayed out one hand and, with the fingers of the other, began to list off everything they'd noticed during the day so far about Remus' odd behaviour. "He went down to breakfast before the rest of us in the dorm."

"But he does do that occasionally," Sirius pointed out, "Because sometimes he likes to sit with Snivellus' friend."

"Evans," James agreed. "That's true. But it still wasn't a good sign to start off the morning. And besides, he _didn't_ sit with her today. He sat by himself."

"Which he does sometimes do," Sirius considered.

"Yes, _sometimes_ ," James sighed. "But then he ignored us in Charms."

"Now that _was_ unusual."

"Exactly," James nodded, mildly thankful to be getting through to his friend. "And again in Defence against the Dark Arts: he didn't even listen to our conversation. Didn't even laugh at my joke."

"It wasn't a very good joke," Sirius muttered.

James glared at him. "It was a brilliant joke!"

"Mr Potter, will you keep your voice down," Professor McGonagall snapped, "and pay attention to my lesson?"

At this, half the class swivelled round in their seats to gawk towards James – including the pale face of Remus, all the way at the front. He didn't look amused or curious, though; he looked worried.

"You don't think Remus doesn't want to be friends with us, do you," James whispered, once the class had settled back.

Sirius looked incredibly solemn for a moment. "Maybe your joke was the last straw."

James jabbed Sirius with his elbow; Sirius emitted a stifled squawk.

"Potter and Black!" Professor McGonagall peered down at them over her glasses, her lips tightly pursed. James and Sirius both gave sheepish grins before returning back to the lesson at hand.

"Surely not," Sirius answered several moments later to James' worry. "He was enjoying his time with us before."

"But there has to be _something_ that's bothering him," James reasoned. "Or he wouldn't be sat all the way over there."

"Maybe it's the pranking."

James and Sirius started, turning to the third voice in surprise. Peter, who was sat beside James, looked over to them, his lower lip trembling.

"What?"

"The pranking, he doesn't like it," Peter continued quietly.

James and Sirius shared a sideward glance. "Well, he's never wanted to help us with it," James nodded thoughtfully.

"And he's told us why not to do certain pranks," Sirius added. His brow furrowed. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't _like_ that we prank. I mean, he hasn't said anything to us."

"Maybe he doesn't want to tell you directly," Peter mumbled.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," James countered. "Why would he do that for?"

"Why don't we just ask him," Sirius muttered.

But as the class rounded to a close, Remus had bolted out of the classroom before James or Sirius had had the chance to stand up. It wasn't until Potions that they next caught sight of him, stood by a table in wait for the lesson to start. They made to stand with him – when the red haired girl, Lily, got to him first. Remus flinched at her approach, but after a hushed discussion between the pair, Remus reluctantly allowed for Lily to be next to him.

"Why does _she_ get to sit with him," James whined.

Of course, with Lily beside him, Snivellus wasn't far away. Thus, James and Sirius opted for the table behind Remus.

"Talking to him was a _really_ good plan of yours," James muttered as they gathered their ingredients.

"I didn't know he was going to disappear out of the room quicker than a house elf," Sirius retorted, sprinkling a handful of lionfish spines into his mortar.

James shrugged. "If he's been avoiding us all day so far, he wasn't exactly going to wait for us after class, was he?"

The class was soon to be filled with the grating grind of pestles against mortars. Sirius was doing a rather spectacular job in smashing the pestle adamantly onto the lionfish spines, as his mind delved into what to do about Remus. He didn't even notice when James leaned over and added a 'helping hand', by attacking the practically demolished spines with his own pestle. It wasn't until James was leaning close enough to be lying across Sirius' portion of the desk that Sirius finally came to his senses, and shoved James off.

"I've got it," Sirius exclaimed, as he measured out some herbs to pour into the mortar, but managed to throw most of the measured amount onto James in the midst of his enlightenment. He dived down to his bag, and pulled out a quill and some spare parchment. James, who had been busy brushing himself down, looked up to see Sirius scribble down on some parchment, give it a moment to dry, then crumple it up into a ball. He put down his quill and, picking up the crumpled ball of parchment, chucked it over in Remus' direction.

It missed completely.

James sniggered. "Look, let me do it," he suggested. "What did you write?"

With the second note made and sufficiently crumpled, James aimed his target and threw the ball – where it tapped Remus at the shoulder. The boy started in surprise; he glanced to Lily, then to the class as a whole, looking wary. He then caught sight of the balled up piece of parchment at his feet. James and Sirius watched in anticipation as Remus eyed the parchment for quite some time – to then return back to his work.

"What?!" James groaned.

"Aw, come on, he just doesn't know it's from us," Sirius pointed out. A third note-making later, James chucked the parchment over at Remus, and it bounced along the desk before coming to a stop by Remus' right. The boy was so concentrated upon adding the crushed powder within his mortar to his cauldron, that he was oblivious to the parchment. That or he was ignorant of it.

"Urgh, James: if you had just gotten it a little closer," Sirius sighed.

James snorted. " _You_ do it then, if you're so brilliant at parchment throwing."

Sirius took considerable time on this fourth note. After crumpling it most carefully, he brought up his arm and narrowed his eyes towards Remus, focusing on where exactly he wanted it to land. "Just… about…" he threw the parchment, "there…"

The parchment sailed through the air, and fell – not near Remus – but directly into Lily's cauldron. Sirius froze; James' breath hitched.

Her cauldron started to sputter and choke, as it rattled where it sat. Lily turned to it in concern, glancing worriedly from it to her book, to see if she'd done something wrong. The cauldron continued to shake, until it was a blur of motion, potion slopping out over the ridges. Lily yelped, stumbling back with splatters of the liquid stained across her robes. She stared down in disdain, for the cauldron to topple from the table and crack against the stone floor. Potion dribbled along the floor and over Lily's shoes, inching towards those in her vicinity. Snape frowned and dragged Lily out of the way; Remus was a state of panic. He ran a hand through his hair and darted forward to right the cauldron, for it to roll under the table. Snape glared at Remus as if it was he who had caused this, before storming off to get the Professor's attention. Remus drew back up from where he'd crawled under the table, his robes also stained and the cauldron shivering in his hands. He dropped it onto the table with a clatter, and groaned when he saw the state of his robes. He looked up, to see Lily shoot him a grateful smile.

James burst into laughter. Sirius hit him on the arm, in an attempt to silence him – but Remus and Lily had already turned towards the sound. Immediately, bouts of suspicion plagued both expressions; Lily turned her nose up at James and Sirius, while Remus looked appalled. Sirius frowned at the latter: even James sobered considerably at the look.

At the return of Snape and the bumbling presence of Professor Slughorn, Lily and Remus were sent out to get cleaned up whilst he sorted out the damage.

"He thought we were purposefully pranking her," Sirius muttered as they watched Remus shuffle out of the class.

"This went exactly the way we did _not_ want this to go," James agreed, downcast. After a moment, he brightened. "Although, it was funny. Potential prank to keep for the future, perhaps?"


	13. Chapter 13

The moment the Potions class finished, James and Sirius bolted out of the door. They stormed through the corridors, their shoes clacking loud against the stone floor and their cloaks swishing in their wake. Amidst his panting to regain his breath, Sirius turned to James. "Gryffindor Tower?"

"Yeah," James agreed; together they weaved through the hordes of pupils and traipsed the many staircases up to the seventh floor. They wasted no time in spluttering the password, and burst on in to the common room.

"He's not here," Sirius exclaimed in dismay.

Once Remus had left the Potions class to mop himself up, the pair had figured he wouldn't return: the class had been close to finishing by that point anyway, and he (unlike Lily) had managed to finish his Potion to the necessary stage they needed to reach for the end of that lesson, so coming back would have been pointless – he'd even gathered up his belongings upon leaving. James and Sirius, during the rest of the lesson, had decided they'd look for Remus, because it was becoming clear that in order to get an answer out of the boy, they were going to have to be a little more blatant in their methods. Annoyingly, with no more classes for the rest of the day, there was no certainty as to where Remus would be.

"Perhaps he's gone to the library," James suggested.

The door to the common room swung open, and the pair looked hopefully upon the pupil – for it to only be Peter. He faltered at the sight of them, still catching their breath and groaning in disappointment. He wondered whether they had thought him to have been Remus, and sighed inwardly to himself. Why couldn't they like him as much as they like Remus?

"Should we check?" Sirius queried James, ignoring Peter's presence now and returning to the conversation. "To see if he's there."

"But what are we going to say," James pondered. "'Hello Remus, we're just popping in here - the library, a place we avoid - and we happened to see you over here, and we were wondering why you're avoiding us.'" He scoffed, "I mean, we _never_ go in the library."

"That's true," Sirius nodded. "But for good reason," he added. "That librarian is terrifying, and books are boring." He awaited for the usual murmur of agreement, to receive nothing. "James?"

James' brow was furrowed intently upon the form of Peter, who was making his way over to the boys' dormitory. "Peter," he said suddenly.

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin. He composed himself, spun around and goggled at James with wide eyes. "Yes?"

"Do _you_ go in the library often?"

Peter fidgeted where he stood, mulling it over. "Sometimes," he squeaked. "Usually Remus studies with Lily, but occasionally he'll help me with my homework if I ask."

"Brilliant," Sirius grinned. He'd been confused at James' apparent curiosity, but quickly read the boy's mind: he acknowledged the unspoken plan and joined in. "Say, would you do us a favour?"

Peter looked like he was going to faint. "Of… of course. What favour?"

"You wouldn't mind asking Remus how he is, would you," James asked. "You know, see what's up, and find out why he's not hanging out with us as much."

"… You're not trying to prank him, are you," Peter frowned, nervous. "Because I don't think he was happy about what happened in Potions."

"Oh no, that wasn't a prank," Sirius said, shaking his head adamantly. "See, that wasn't meant to happen."

"… Right."

"Just ask him for some help with an assignment or something, that'll get him talking." James darted closer towards Peter expectantly. "So are you in?" Peter worried his lip, but after a couple of moments, he nodded. James beamed, and dashed around him back to where he'd dropped his bag onto the floor. "Let me just get my invisibility cloak…" He produced it with a flourish, gestured Sirius over, and together the two slipped under the material. Peter stared at the space they'd previously been standing in with awe. "After you, then, Peter," came the disembodied voice of James; Peter started and rushed to the door of the common room.

James and Sirius followed behind the bustling form of Peter in relative quiet, concentrating on not tripping over each other or the cloak. They were getting used to walking under it, but they usually did this at night, when there weren't various students and teachers striding through the corridors or trying to get up and down staircases alongside them. Luckily, for the most of the journey they weren't disturbed – classes had on the whole come to an end for the day, so there weren't great masses of students attempting to get to lessons on time. Finally, Peter reached the doors of the library and slipped through (fortunately, these doors were kept open during the day, so James and Sirius didn't have much to fear in getting past this obstacle). Under the nose of the librarian they crept, and onwards past bookshelves and tables and the occasional student, whilst from the other side of the large arched windows, a harsh bitter wind rattled at the panes. Peter started to slow: clearly he'd located Remus, because soon after he came to a complete stop beside a small table.

"Hello Remus," Peter began; he glanced around him, and James and Sirius knew he was doubting their presence, what with them being under the cloak. James and Sirius inched closer, looking across to where Remus was sat, pale and worried (though his robes were thankfully intact, even after the Potions incident).

Remus started at Peter's appearance, and for a good moment seemed uncertain about the situation as a whole. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and inched subconsciously closer towards the parchment on his desk with his shoulders hunched, giving the impression that he wanted to disappear, or that he hoped Peter would somehow not notice him, despite it already being too late.

Peter looked a little less nervous, and became more concerned. "Are you alright, Remus?"

Remus spent a considerable amount of time staring down at the parchment. Finally, he gave a sharp inclination of his head, which Peter took to mean 'yes', though he wasn't quite sure whether to believe the boy. At this nod he decided it safe to take a seat at the table. James and Sirius glanced to Remus, whose expression flickered to one of terror for barely a second.

"I was wondering," Peter said politely; a second wary glimpse over his shoulder showed he was keeping James and Sirius' request and advice to 'get Remus talking' in mind, "if you could help me with the Potions essay we need to do."

Remus froze: James groaned quietly and Sirius winced – at the mention of Potions, the same memory ran through their minds of earlier today, and that was in no way going to help Peter in getting Remus to talk. They should have made this clear to Peter beforehand; but they'd assumed this to be obvious to avoid that particular subject.

Remus squirmed in his seat. It was as though he were having an internal argument – he was not himself at all, from what James and Sirius could observe. He mumbled something incoherent, eyes intent on boring through his parchment.

"Pardon?" Peter prompted.

"Maybe later," Remus muttered quietly after clearing his throat. He dragged his gaze from the table and looked across to Peter, his expression the very definition of guilt. James shifted where he stood, brow furrowed; Sirius too considered Remus' face thoughtfully, but came to no conclusion.

Peter opened his mouth to say more: he seemed to change his mind, and got to his feet, the chair scraping as he pushed away. With one last, small smile towards Remus, he trotted away, glancing around him (perhaps in search for James and Sirius to suddenly make an appearance). When they didn't do so, he continued on through the library, his form quickly being swallowed by the towering bookshelves.

( _He subsequently started a search for James and Sirius, but, not knowing their current location - given their invisibility - he quickly found himself lost within the realms of the library.)_

Remus watched after him. Once he was sure the boy was out of sight, he sighed deeply and bowed his head, resting his forehead upon the parchment. Why did this have to be so difficult? He'd always thought his transformations were the most complex thing he would ever have to face during his lifetime, but already the concept of friends and whether he should have them was being a far bigger problem. He didn't trust himself with having to lie, and he didn't like having to lie, but he wanted to be around people who seemed to like him. He wasn't used to having to tackle such personal problems in such a grand, social place as Hogwarts.

James, from under the cloak, proceeded to tug Sirius by the arm around the corner. Sirius recoiled from his grip sharply, and pulled off the cloak when he was sure no one else was down that particular aisle. "Well, _Peter_ was a great help," James muttered.

Sirius nodded in agreement. "He possibly made it worse."

"Look, clearly we're not going to find out why he's avoiding us unless _we_ just ask him," James pointed out. "Even if we are talking to him in the library, of all places."

Remus was so deep in thought that he at first didn't hear the scuffling over by the other end of the table. It was only when said scuffling happened to knock roughly into the table that he yanked his head back up. He was perplexed to see James and Sirius looking across to him.

"Hiya Remus," James grinned jovially.

Remus stared at the pair. First Peter, now these two? Besides, he wasn't sure that James or Sirius had even _been_ in the library before – they hadn't ever expressed their liking of the place, and found it odd that Remus enjoyed reading so much. With his mind at a loss with what to say, he bowed his head back down to the parchment before him.

Sirius inhaled sharply, with the thought that Peter had just reminded Remus of what had happened earlier. "Look, about what happened in Potions-"

"We didn't mean for that explosion," James finished earnestly. He paused. "Although it was kinda funny." There was a small squabble of movement at which Remus didn't look up to watch. "Fine," James sighed, "it wasn't that funny. Sort of."

"What he's _trying_ to say is that we hadn't planned for that to happen," Sirius surmised.

At this, Remus frowned. He risked a glance towards them. "Then why did it happen?"

"We were trying to send you a note," James said, grinning. "But Sirius has a terrible aim."

"I do not!"

Remus shifted uncomfortably. They were sending him notes? Were they suspicious of him; how he had started isolating himself more after the mention of howling? Were they trying to annoy him, provoke him? Did they somehow know of his condition – had they _worked it out_?

"We were just wondering how you are, is all," James shrugged; Remus could've sighed in relief. He had a tendency to worry far too much about things too little. Thankfully, his secret was safe for now.

"I'm fine," Remus mumbled, and again inched subconsciously closer to his parchment. "I'm just catching up on some work."

"Oh." Sirius and James shared a look, then frowned over at Remus, as though expecting him to say more. When he didn't, however, their shoulders sagged simultaneously in defeat.

"Are you sure," James queried. Remus nodded.

Sirius narrowed his gaze, but his short attention span in situations overcame him. "Alright then," he said. "See you 'round, Remus."

Remus had already returned to his work, and listened to – rather than watched – the pair leave.

"Well, that was disappointing," James grumbled along the hallway, upon exiting the library.

"He doesn't talk much, does he," Sirius noted.

"Yeah: I wonder why that is," James mused. "If only he was a little more outgoing, then he would be the perfect team member to our trio."

"I thought he was part of our trio already," Sirius frowned.

"Yeah, but not officially," James explained. "I mean, we never announced it, or held a celebration, did we? We should do that. The only problem now is that he doesn't want to talk to us."

"Maybe he doesn't like us as much as he initially thought he would," Sirius considered.

James snorted. "Course not. We're amazing."

"We did just blow up his friend's cauldron," Sirius pointed out.

" _Accidentally_." They rounded a corner, and James gasped. "Maybe that's why he doesn't want to talk to us! He's _annoyed_ about what happened in Potions."

"But how do we solve that?"

"We should probably just have to say sorry when we next see him," James said.

Sirius nodded uncertainly, but inwardly frowned. _Sorry?_

OooOOOoooOOOooo

Later that evening, Remus entered the dormitory warily – and for good reason, as James nearly bowled him over upon his entry.

"Remus! Have you been in the library _all this time_? Anyway: I figured it out. We're sorry about what happened today in Potions." He beamed, pride evident in his expression.

Remus at first had no idea what the boy was talking about. He had indeed been in the library for the most of the afternoon (he'd wanted to avoid the other three, and he enjoyed the almost tranquil atmosphere of that place). As to what James had apparently figured out, he didn't know.

In response to the apology, he mumbled, "Don't worry about it. It isn't me that you need to apologise to, anyway – it was Lily's cauldron that upturned."

James deflated. "Your friend, right?" He mulled it over, and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "She's still friends with Snivellus, isn't she?"

"His name is Severus, from what Lily's spoken about him."

"Yeah," James said dismissively. "So, you're okay? You're not annoyed with us anymore?"

Remus furrowed his brow. He quickly backtracked, thinking of reasons as to why he should be annoyed with James – or Sirius, going by how James had referred to "us".

"Because you've been avoiding us recently," James put bluntly.

"Oh." So they'd noticed _that_ rather quickly. He shuffled across the room, out of James' proximity. He caught sight of Sirius sat on the edge of his bed, watching the pair intently. Remus didn't feel comfortable with bringing back the subject of the howling, worried of their reactions. In fact, he wasn't sure exactly how to respond at all. Thus, instead, Remus slunk into his bed and grabbed the nearest book resting on his small chest of drawers.

A pregnant pause settled across the dormitory, until Sirius suggested, "How about you come with us on a trip around the school under the cloak?"

Remus chewed nervously at his lip, and shook his head. He pulled the book closer to his face, not wanting his guilt at pushing them away to be obvious to them.

James ran a hand through his hair, and turned in exasperation towards Sirius. The latter frowned, but said no more to disturb Remus. James dragged his feet over to his own bed, deep in thought. What was up with Remus, and how could they make it better?

* * *

 **A/N: Hiya guys!**

 **Gosh, I feel awful for these slow updates. I 'm really trying my best to get each chapter up as soon as possible, but clearly my determination is failing me. I don't get as much time to sit and type nowadays, and when I do I spend forever trying to make sure that each chapter is good enough both in my opinion and for you wonderful readers (curse my perfectionism!). I know it sounds like a lame excuse, I'm sorryyy :(**

 **Moving on to more positive thoughts, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! How's everyone doing now that the days are slowly growing colder and darker? I love the autumn season; it's the best time of year to snuggle up in swathes of blankets and drink tons of hot chocolate...**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N ...**

 **I don't even have an excuse this time. It's been almost a month, jeez.**

 **I'M SORRRYYYYYY!**

 **I started this chapter a while back, and I really struggled with it. Who'd've thought, eh? But I didn't wanted to post a chapter if I didn't like it, or if it didn't really serve a purpose, so... yeah. I left it until I found the inspiration came to me to complete it - turns out this inspiration didn't come along too quickly.**

 **I've been re-reading the past couple of chapters as well, and I wasn't too impressed at their substance in comparison to the first few chapters. So hopefully (though it will take more time) I'll get back to improving the sustenance of these chapters, which will hopefully make it both more satisfactory for me, and more enjoyable for you guys to actually read! Everyone wins :)**

 **Anyway, I'll let you get to the story x**

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Sirius leant against the handle of the broomstick, his thick dragon-hide gloves doing well in keeping the cold from nipping at his fingers. He gestured across the grounds, with a sideward smirk to James. The latter touched down from where he'd floated just off from the ground.

"What is it," James asked. He followed Sirius' gaze, and caught sight of Snape, who had just sat down upon a broom. He grinned. "Ah, I see."

Remus shivered in the cold. His attire wasn't the warmest and, given the current weather conditions, he wouldn't be surprised if it ended up snowing before the day was out. He looked warily to the broomstick in his hand, which seemed to have frozen to his tight grip. He didn't trust it one bit. The past couple of flying lessons had gone pretty much as appalling as the first – although, he'd since had James and Sirius help him in finding the better brooms out of the ones available, which meant that he wasn't as prone to start being tossed around mid-air. All the same, he wasn't exactly jumping for joy whenever a flying class came around in their timetable.

The full moon was coming close by, and it didn't help in making Remus feel any better – especially whenever the mention of howling cropped up in James and Sirius' conversation. The topic had, thankfully, died down as the weeks had gone on, much to Remus' relief, and he had felt less and less cautious around the two. Remus never liked to hear about werewolves, and – as recently discovered – particularly detested the commentary back on his own transformation, of which the thought in itself was queasy to even contemplate. James had also (with a confused and unwilling Sirius at his arm) apologised to Lily about the Potions incident, whilst he made sure that Remus witnessed said apology for himself… but, if anything, it made Lily more annoyed to discover that the pair had, in fact, been the cause in the first place. James had been completely bewildered by her irritation, and had subsequently dragged a clueless Sirius with him back to the dormitory. Remus had wandered on after them, and though he assured the pair that he'd only wanted somewhere peaceful to read, he found himself admittedly more comfortable in their presence after having watched the apology, and gradually got back to hanging around them on occasion. He knew of course that he had to keep his guard up, but he didn't feel quite so alert around them, as though one wrong move near them could break him. And not only that, but he realised that he'd missed their amusing company during the times when he'd isolated himself from them (which seemed to have occurred in short bursts around the full moon), which meant a lot to Remus, as he was not one to be familiar around the idea of friendship, and yet here he was, revelling in the company of others his age.

He looked across to where Sirius and James were whispering to each other, and then cast a disdainful glance towards the broom still most unfortunately in his hand. The class were practising the art of balancing in the air from what Remus considered to be a terribly great height, but was apparently only a few feet. Obviously, with a large class of eleven year olds, Remus doubted that even Professor McGonagall could control them all up in the air at once, so they were split up into smaller groups in order for Madam Hooch to focus on individuals, and prevent as many casualties.

It also meant that her back was turned.

There came a yelp from several yards across from where Remus stood: he snapped his gaze over in shock, to find his eyes settle on Severus Snape. He frowned; from where he was, it looked to Remus as though Snape's broom was _melting_. Could they melt? He doubted that was a function a broomstick would want to install. And it didn't seem to be coming to any good; Severus was floating mid-air, and having to concentrate on that and a broom that was slipping through his heavily gloved fingers was clearly a struggle. He wobbled dangerously, yelping as he attempted to retain a decent balance, but only succeeded in sliding off the end of his broom – he tumbled to a heap on the floor.

Remus overheard a snigger: he turned to see James and Sirius grinning broadly, a wand in James' hand. Had they caused this?

"Did you see his face," Sirius snickered to James.

James nodded: he twisted his face into one of exaggerated utmost horror, and flailed his arms around, to which he and Sirius burst into a bout of laughter.

Remus stared at them. "How did you manage to melt his broom?" he queried, genuinely shocked.

James blinked over at him in surprise. "Oh, we didn't melt it," he assured. "We just used a softening charm – you know, the one we were learning in class the other day?"  
Remus nodded distractedly. He didn't quite understand what they found so immersive in watching someone fall so ungracefully from a height to the floor.

Sirius and James high-fived each other. "That was brilliant," Sirius chuckled. "That's a spell that could come in handy for the future."

James nodded, and turned back to Remus. "Say, Remus, how're you finding your broom?"

Remus blanched. "Well, I'd rather not have it at all."

"Would you like us to melt it for you," Sirius sniggered.

Despite himself, Remus laughed. "Much as I'd appreciate the offer, I don't think Madam Hooch would be too impressed." He looked across to the grounds to where Madam Hooch was screeching in disgust at the malleable broom beside the sprawled Snape (being helped up by Lily); she irritably fixed it up with a sharp swish of her wand.

"What do you remember from the last lesson," James coaxed Remus.

"Nothing."

"Come on, you don't mean that," Sirius said. "You're just avoiding the inevitable."

"No, I just don't _want_ to remember anything from it," Remus corrected.

James threw a leg over his broom and sat down; he was quick to hover at parallel to Remus' elbow. Remus shuddered at the sight of the drop – he didn't care how small it was, just that it was _there_. "Okay, so we learnt about posture, right," James retold. "When we want to be floating on the spot, we need a straight back, with our shoulders flat."

"And our wand hand needs to be gripped above the other on the broom, and our knees need to be bent at a 90° angle, and the soles of our feet need to be parallel to the ground," Remus rattled off.

"There you go!" Sirius grinned. "Told you that you remembered it."

"But it's not the theory side that I struggle with," Remus sighed, "it's the actually-having-to-sit-on-a-broom part that disagrees with me."

"You just need a little practise, is all," James shrugged; he pushed his glasses further up to the bridge of his nose. He touched down and gestured towards Remus. "You try."

Once Remus managed to tug the broomstick from his frozen grip, he eyed it warily. He glanced to James – who looked expectant – and Sirius – who grinned assuredly – and turned back to the broom. With a shake of his head, he held the broom out and clumsily swung his leg over. He sat carefully down, tightened his grip on the broom – and then swapped his hands around so that they were in the right position. His shoulders tensed at the thought of having to float above the ground. Why did they have to teach this again? He exhaled deeply, attempted to ease his shoulders down, and counted down mentally in his head.

 _Three_. He adjusted his footing on the ground, ready to kick up. _Two_. He tilted up his chin, looking straight ahead of him. _One_.

Remus kicked off the ground, slipped, and spun off the broom. He fell face first to the grass, the blades crackling against his cheeks. James snorted, and bent down to offer Remus a hand; Sirius hooted with laughter, his hands clutching his chest.

Remus brushed himself down, begrudgingly thanked James, and narrowed his eyes at Sirius, who still snickered. He caught sight of something over Remus' shoulder, however, and sobered; Remus and James turned.

"Potter," Madam Hooch snapped. "Snape claims that you charmed his broomstick with a Softening Charm. Now, I'm not one to put the blame on those if I haven't seen the evidence for myself, so I'll let you off today – so take this as a warning. No foolish wand waving in my class, thank you."

"Of course, Professor," James nodded innocently.

Remus frowned at the pair as Madam Hooch strode out of earshot. "How do you manage to get away with these things?"

"Because our pranks, though ingenious, are pretty much harmless," Sirius shrugged.

"For now, anyway," James grinned. He winked at Remus, who threw him a stony gaze. "I'm kidding!"

The flying class wrapped up soon after that, what with the temperature plummeting even more so and the students having drained the most of their energy. The class trooped across the grounds back to the castle, but as they walked, Remus caught sight of a familiar looking wooden hut. He peered towards the front of the line: Madam Hooch wasn't looking his way. He didn't have any other classes for the rest of the day, and no one would miss him. He stumbled over bad footing along the awkwardly crooked pathway; he lifted his chin up for one last check that Madam Hooch wasn't going to catch sight of him, and then spun on his heel off the track. He darted along the track, jumped down the steeper slopes and came to a stop outside the front steps of the hut. Remus rapped on the door.

Barking echoed from within the hut, followed by heavy footsteps. The door swung open and a large figure appeared, bushy beard and all. "Remus," Hagrid exclaimed. "Haven' yeh got classwork ter be getting' on with?"

"I've just finished all my classes for the day," Remus shrugged. "And I've done all my homework. We were walking back to the castle and I thought I'd come and say hi."

Hagrid beamed. "Well, let's see if I can fix somethin' up for yeh," Hagrid said. He withdrew into his cabin, and Remus followed after him. He loved the cosiness of Hagrid's hut – especially the much appreciated roaring fire, which he took the closest seat next to as Hagrid sifted through his cramped cupboards. "'S not much, but it looks like yeh could do with something to eat," Hagrid offered; he dumped a plate of large biscuits onto the table by which Remus sat at. Fang's interest was piqued, and he trotted over to sniff at the plate – upon catching sight of Remus, he bowed his head and ay by Remus' feet obediently.

"Looks like yeh've found yerself a friend," Hagrid chuckled. "So, how've yeh been finding Hogwarts, then, Remus?"

Remus started to explain his thoughts on the school. He felt like this was the first, most honest conversation he could have, given how Hagrid was technically a professor of sorts (or Keeper of the Keys, as he'd said), and thus knew about Remus' secret. And it seemed that Hagrid didn't think of his werewolf issue as much of a problem. "Wasn't yeh fault, now, was it," he'd assured gruffly. "Such a terrible thing ter happen to yeh though… I'm sure Madam Pomfrey fixes yeh up every month."

Remus had taken the biscuits most gratefully, and – though they'd been a little crunchy around the edges – they were pleasantly tasty. He'd offered the crumbs to Fang, who'd snapped them up with a lick across Remus' cupped palm.

"Blimey, would yeh look at that," Hagrid exclaimed sometime later, as he stooped down by the window. "It's started ter snow."

Remus jumped up to his feet and eagerly darted to the window, where already a thin blanket of white had submerged the grounds.

"You'd best get back ter the castle," Hagrid advised. "Don't want ter have to wade through it once it really starts to settle."

Remus was sent off with a pocketful of biscuits, and a lick across the knuckles from Fang. He trooped through the snow, which clumped atop his battered up shoes, and shivered within his cloak. As he walked, he overheard voices.

"I bet I'll beat you!"

"You've got a terrible aim; I'm totally going to win!"

Remus looked up through his snow dusted lashes to see two figures ahead of him, throwing balls of snow at each other. Upon closer inspection, Remus realised he recognised the pair.

"You're going down, Sirius," James yelled, as he chucked a snowball towards Sirius – which caught him on the shoulder.

Sirius yelped, and hastily gathered a ball of snow in his gloved hands. "As if I'd let _that_ happen!" He pulled back his arm, and threw the snowball.

Snow exploded over Remus' arm with an unexpected force and he staggered through the blanketed grounds. Sirius and James stopped simultaneously, and stared at the newcomer to which Sirius had accidentally hit.

"Remus?" James proclaimed in surprise.

"Did I hit him?" Sirius called to James.

James spun on his heel. "Of course you hit him, you hippogriff!" He turned back to Remus. "Sorry about that; he has a lousy aim."

Remus brushed the snow off his cloak, and rested his hands to his thighs as he composed himself, his head bowed to his feet.

"Remus?"

A ball of snow flung through the air and smacked Sirius right in the chest. Sirius shrieked as he tumbled to the floor, and James whooped in amusement.

"That was brilliant, Remus," James started – before he too got knocked down by a second snowball, courtesy of Remus.

The pair clumsily got back to their feet, both of them ogling over at the skinny little boy with sandy hair, who grinned sheepishly at them from where he stood.

"Right," Sirius exclaimed. "You've initiated a snowball war." At that he swiftly gathered an armful of snow, and started towards James and Remus, who in turn gathered up as much snow as they could.

 _The war was on._

It was much later when the Gryffindor Common Room was greeted by three shivering first years, their clothes dampened through with large splotches of snow. James wiped the lenses of his glasses with the hem of his sleeve, and replaced them back on his face after a run through of his hair, which presented itself more like a bird's nest than anything else. Sirius followed next, his cheeks flushed like James and the curls of his hair straightening out under the snow's guise. Finally, Remus stepped on in, his cheeks pink with exhilaration and his eyes agleam, despite his trembling state. He beamed as he sat down by the glowing fireplace with Sirius and James, and found that he could finally accept that these two first years, though mischievous and true pranksters, were what Remus realised had to be the first friends he could hope to have – never mind the setback of his werewolf form.

The three boys sat together for what felt like hours, and Remus couldn't have felt better.


End file.
